NHS paying fat patients to lose weight

 

06/07/2010

 

The NHS is being encouraged to pay obese patients to lose weight after a scheme run by one primary care trust helped over 100 people to shed nearly two stone each in a year.

Cash payments of up to £425 were offered by an NHS primary care trust in Kent to 402 volunteers who signed up for the year-long "Pounds for pounds" trial in January 2009.

Among the 100 who completed the course, the average weight loss over the year was 25lb.

However, this figure only represents a small proportion of those who took part, with only a third of participants reaching their target weight during the trial.

The programme works by adding up how much weight each participant has lost and how long it remains off for before applying a sliding scale of payments. Those who lose the most and keep it off earn the most money. 

Last month, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence held a two-day hearing to discuss the use of cash incentives in health. In addition to helping people lose weight and give up smoking, other schemes have offered rewards to addicts to stay off drugs and £10 record vouchers to young people who agree to have a test for Chlamydia.

An independent evaluation of the Kent weight loss scheme by the University of Sheffield concluded that financial incentives worked for some people, but the high drop-out rate meant the true impact was unclear.

Claire Martin, Acting Assistant Director of Public Health for NHS Eastern and Costal Kent, said: “In these challenging times we need to make tough financial decisions and make sure we are investing our money wisely and these initial findings are just part of the overall picture.

“Very often people lose weight but when they stop their diet the weight returns within a short space of time. We need to invest in programmes that return a sustained weight loss and produce long-term health benefits.

“In conclusion, there were high dropout rates and so it is very difficult to interpret the results to show how successful this would be across our population.

“Clearly it works for some people, but more research needs to be undertaken to understand the true effect of incentives on weight loss.”

Back