will have the help of trained physiotherapists, psychologist and nutritionists

A new initiative from the National Health Service in the United Kingdom to beat the problem of obesity is to send families who are overweight to special fitness weight loss camps to get them into shape. The new campaign has been launched in the town of Rotherham where it is estimated that around 60 percent of the population is overweight and over 600 residents weigh over 25 stone.

The head of the Rotherham National Health Service Ms. Carol Weir said that they had decided to make the problem of obesity a priority because it was becoming a “major health burden”. Under this scheme doctors will be able to refer the very seriously overweight patients to the six-week courses run at the Carnegie Weight Loss Camp which is located at Leeds Metropolitan University. The overweight people who attend these courses will have the help of specially trained physiotherapists, psychologist and diet experts.

The majority of overweight people however will be just attending a special slimming school which is held every Saturday during a three month period. They will be given advice on how to eat healthily, cook carefully and how to get exercise.

This initiative has received commendations from a lot of weight loss experts such as Professor Paul Gately from the Leeds Metropolitan University who said it was “visionary”. The British government is realising that with over £7billion in obesity related expenses every year it is necessary for investment to be made in weight loss programs to reduce the figure.

This scheme is estimated to be costing the National Health Service many hundreds of thousands of pounds however the Rotherham Health Chief Ms Carol Weir said she is confident that in the future this investment will start to pay dividends.

A report by the Department of Health in 2007 warned that as many as 60 percent of the adults and over 30 percent of children would have a BMI of 30+ by the year 2050 if current trends continued.