Tory Lord says there are ‘too may fat NHS medics and teachers’ setting a ‘very bad example’ in the fight against obesity and suggests overweight people should be ‘shamed’ into eating and drinking less
- Lord Robathan criticised ‘a large number’ of overweight medics and teachers
- Accused them of setting a bad example to patients and children in obesity battle
- Told the Lords overweight people ‘know what makes them fat’ during debate
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Tory Lord Robathan told the Lords overweight medical staff and teachers were setting a bad example to patients and children in the battle against obesity.
A Tory peer has made an astonishing attack on ‘fat’ NHS medics at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tory Lord Robathan told the Lords today that ‘a large number’ of overweight medical staff and teachers were setting a bad example to patients and children in the battle against obesity.
He told the upper chamber that such people needed to be ‘shamed’ into taking personal responsibility for their weight.
His outburst comes as hundreds of thousands of medics have worked punishing shifts at hospitals across the country trying to save lives from coronavirus, often at high risk to themselves.
The former MP welcomed the Prime Minister’s leadership in the drive against obesity after being hospitalised with coronavirus.
But he said leadership was also needed from everybody in positions of authority.
‘I’d particularly like to home in on health professionals and teachers because for too long there has been, I regret to say, a large number of very overweight people in the NHS and in our schools setting a very bad example to children and people in hospital,’ he told peers.
Stressing the need for people to take personal responsibility, he added: ‘They know what makes them fat and … dare I say it, they need to be shamed from eating and drinking too much.’
‘For too long there has been, I regret to say, a large number of very overweight people in the NHS and in our schools setting a very bad example to children and people in hospital,’ he told peers
Tory health minister Lord Bethell said shaming was not a policy endorsed by the Government but pledged himself to lose a stone to be ‘match fit’ for winter
He made the remarks during a virtual question time session on reported links between obesity and the number of people dying from Covid-19.
Tory health minister Lord Bethell said shaming was not a policy endorsed by the Government but pledged himself to lose a stone to be ‘match fit’ for winter.
He said the Government remained committed to halving childhood obesity and was looking at other ways of making an impact on this ‘national scourge’.
‘Shame is not a policy the Government particularly endorses. But I will confess to personally having a sense that I need to lose a stone in order to be match fit for the winter,’ he said.
‘I will commit to you to undertake this arduous and difficult commitment over the next three months and will account to you for what progress I’ve made.’
Earlier the minister told peers: ‘Britain is overweight. For too long obesity has been a huge cost to the health of the individual, the NHS and the economy.
‘Covid-19 is a wake-up call. Initial evidence suggests obesity may be associated with a higher rate of positive tests for Covid, of hospitalisation and admission into intensive care and, with great sadness, of death.’