Pressure grows on government to act on obesity as figures show effect on health and the NHS

The government is coming under increasing pressure to change its approach to tackling obesity, as figures show that hospital admissions for obesity are rising and that the general population is ignoring advice on healthy diet and exercise levels.

The number of inpatient admissions with a primary diagnosis of obesity reached 11 736 in 2011-12, according to a report from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), published on 20 February.1 This number is a 1% increase on admissions in the previous year (11 570 in 2010-11), triple the number five years ago (3860 in 2006-07), and 11 times the number 10 years ago (1019 in 2001-02). In 2011-12, female admissions for obesity were almost three times higher than male admissions (8740 v 2990).

The numbers of bariatric surgical procedures, including stomach stapling and gastric …