NHS spending on obesity ‘outstrips police and fire service spending’

The UK government currently spends more on treating obesity-related conditions than on the police or fire services, according to an NHS leader.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, told MPs that the health service currently spends billions of pounds on dealing with the effects of obesity – money that could be saved through public health initiatives.

He observed that 40 percent of the current NHS workload is related to modifiable health risk factors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption and lack of exercise, suggesting that the incoming tax on sugary fizzy drinks could help address this.

Mr Stevens said: "A good place to start would be childhood obesity, and obviously the sugar tax in the budget is a key building block in that."

He went on to claim that efforts to reduce the amount of salt in people's diets has saved the NHS around 1.5 billion pounds since 2001. Cutting sugar consumption in a similar way would help to minimise rates of type 2 diabetes, diabetic blindness and amputations.