Not just is it fair, but is it ethical, financially justifiable and does it work?
The majority of NICE’s independent Citizens Council voted in favour of offering incentive schemes to patients to help them achieve healthier lifestyles in certain circumstances.
It seems even Father Christmas isn’t safe from the public health messages driven home during the festive season.
Santa was criticised earlier this month for drink-driving after too many brandies, eating a high-fat diet of mince pies and relying on a sleigh for transport rather than walking. Bah humbug some readers cried in response. Even our beloved personification of Christmas can’t get away with a cheeky tipple and mince pie at Christmas.
GPs are in a great position to drop healthy lifestyle advice into a consultation. Check out the offerings in this month’s education bulletin for a few tips on how to discuss a balanced diet with a patient and consider other lifestyle factors like how work and finances can impact on a patient’s health.
So the next time a portly, elderly gentleman (possibly with a long white beard and a bright red suit) pops in to the practice, you could offer some lifestyle advice for this hectic time of year. Just don’t expect him to hit the treadmill until January. I hear the end of December is a busy time.
Oh if we had known a little tongue-in-cheek health story about Santa failing to be a healthy role model for children would generate such heated debate!
Of the dozens of potentially controversial news stories we published this week, including MPs backing assisted suicide, the DoH’s ‘nanny state’ new guidance on alcohol for children, and NHS managers considering allowing patients to use personal health budgets to pay for holidays, it’s the BMJ Christmas parody piece on Santa claiming the character promotes obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle that alienated the most readers on our forums…
Click here to see the comments
We, at Healthcare Republic, always like generating debate on our forums and engage our healthcare professional readers so they can share their views, but I have to admit little did we know that this ‘story’ would end up being the most commented of the past couple of weeks.
Amongst the seven comments is a mix of vindictive remarks against Dr Grills, the author of the research published in the Christmas issue of the BMJ, accusing him of ruining the spirit of Christmas as well as Santa-based jokes of course.
We thought the research paper parody was such a great read, with things like “Santa is a late adopter of evidence based behaviour change and continues to sport a rotund sedentary image”, and my absolute favourite: “To create a supportive environment for Santa’s dieting we should cease the tradition of leaving Santa cookies, mince pies, and milk, brandy, or sherry. This is bad not only for Santa’s waistline but for parental obesity.”
The ‘research’ also suggests Santa is a propagator of infectious disease and in particular swine flu, he’s accused of promoting speeding, disregard for road rules, and extreme sports such as roof surfing and chimney jumping. Should I continue?
Just take it the way we took it: with pinch of salt… or with a mince pie and mulled wine.
Fat is a contentious issue, stimulating debate and polarising opinion. However, on one weight-related matter there is a definite consensus: nobody likes to be patronised by underfed, overpaid supermodels.
‘Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels,’ bleated Kate Moss last week, eliciting mass outrage at her irresponsibility, given her popularity with impressionable youngsters; irritation at her self-satisfaction; plus countless assertions that, actually, lots of things DO taste better.
‘Not everyone has a free choice about controlling their weight: for instance, people in inner cities are much more likely to be overweight because of poorer education, poorer housing and poorer job opportunities.’
Being a (slightly rabid) non-smoker, I was very irritated by a conversation I had with a smoker friend, in which he claimed that the duty paid on cigarettes renders smoking cost-neutral to the NHS. He glibly waved away any personal responsibility that smokers might bear the health service, while accusing fat people of draining the NHS of its precious resources.
I was flabberghasted when I learned that cows produce as many litres of polluting gases as a car does in a day. And I’ve since been trying to run over as many cows as possible to reduce the carbon footprint of my huge four-by-four.
Obesity is not some brand new phenomenon, like social networking or celebrity chefs: the truth of this is illustrated clearly by an exhibition currently on display at the Tower of London: Henry VIII – Dressed to Kill.
The Scottish LMCs conference in Clydesbank today will debate, among other things, whether there should be a tax on chocolate and if GPs in Scotland should become a salaried service.
The debate on taxing chocolate has been derided by some GP bloggers, and I have to agree. While obesity levels are rising at a rapid rate, I can’t see that taxing chocolate would make that much of a difference.
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