St Helens obesity: 'Shocking' solutions needed to tackle issue

Dr Reade said it was time to say "enough is enough" when it came to obesity

"Shocking" solutions are needed to help a town deal with its obesity crisis, the head of a doctors group has said.

Using a "silly example" of charging people without a disability "for using lifts", St Helens GP Federation's Dr David Reade said "enough is enough".

Using Public Health England data, a St Helens Council report estimated 72% of the town's adults were overweight.

It has the second highest percentage of obese or overweight adults in England, after Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

The joint report from St Helens Council, St Helens Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said local obesity-related prescriptions were almost double the national average.

Weight-related hospital admissions were also almost a third higher than the average number across England, the Local Democracy Reporter Service wrote.

The report stated about a third of St Helens' adults took less than 30 minutes of "moderate" exercise a week, despite more than 50% living within 500m (1,600ft) of "accessible woodland".

Obese children could become adults with diabetes and cancer, the board heard

Addressing the council's People's Board, Dr Reade said: "Let's be shocking. Fit and healthy people who don't have a disability should be charged for using lifts.

"That's just a silly example, but I think we do need to challenge people and we do need to perhaps - if our head is above the parapet - say look, enough is enough.

"We need to make these choices harder for people to take."

'Tackle obesity in young'

A second report to the board also suggested about 27% of reception age and 38% of Year 6 children in the area were classed as having excess weight.

Prof Sarah O'Brien, the council's strategic director of people's services and clinical accountable officer for the CCG, said there was a need to "tackle obesity in young children".

"If we don't tackle that while they're children... then they are your future people with diabetes, heart disease, hypertension [and] cancer," she said.

Council leader Derek Long said work should be undertaken to look at the way health inequalities within the borough can be tackled.