Should Gps Stop Mincing Their Words With Obese Patients?

[naomi24]

//GPs should stop worrying about causing offence and offer obese patients help to control their weight, experts have said.//

http://news.sky.com/story/gps-told-dont-mince-your-words-with-obese-patients-10631431

[dannyk13]

My GP never has minced his words.

[Baldric]

Yes by all means offer obese patients help to control their weight, it can't do any harm.

[Old_Geezer]

They could always offer advice. It doesn't need to be rude or aggressive as "not mincing one's words" suggests. However it isn't one's job to go outside one's remit. so giving advice on issues not asked about, is on dodgy ground. One can be concerned and help without pushing and offending. It helps no one to encourage folk not to visit the doctor because it is an unpleasant experience and gives the patient the impression that they have an unpleasant GP.

[pixie374]

If it's relevant to what they have gone in for. Unasked for interference is more likely to keep people away, I think.

[Islay]

Telling someone their fat is not going to get them to change their ways - often there is more to someone being fat than just eating - it is what is causing them to eat that needs to be sorted!

[Islay]

sorry should be 'they're'

[Islay]

Don't be silly Divebuddy no one has said that at all.

[Islay]

And for your information as fat as I am I have never supersized at McDonalds and very rarely go there!

[TWR]

10.44, GREED

[EcclesCake]

A simplistic view TWR.

[Islay]

Rubbish TWR absolute rubbish!

[Baldric]

They didn't seem to find it too offensive tbf.

///"An extra 30 seconds could make all the difference; it doesn't take long and can be raised in a supportive and sensitive manner."
Four fifths of participants (81%) across both groups found the GP's intervention "appropriate and helpful"///.

[ummmm]

What if your GP is over weight?

[cassa333]

Yes. They don't have to be rude about it but telling it like it is should be the norm for GPS.

Fat people know they are fat but are mostly in denial about everything. Take away the medical reasons, which are very rare, and the 'I'm big boned' sort of excuses and you are left with the vast majority that have got into the habit of eating too much for the amount of activity they do. Take away the weight and a huge amount of the medical problems they have go with the weight.

It is exceedingly hard to lose weight when you have spent the best part of your life depending on food as a crutch. There is no getting away from that or that Food becomes a mind set that trumps insult or injury. But to not take the advice of your PG or try to take an active role in your health should not be an option.

When I was fat I rarely went to the Dr but whenever I did he always said the problem, whatever it was, was because I was fat. I of course was indignant and decided that it was easier for the Dr to say that than treat the problem. I have Since lost half my body weight and all my former problems have gone except two. Which, if I hadn't been so fat for so long, wouldn't have materialised in the first place.

Once eating becomes a psychological problem those issues should be addressed as well as losing weight.

[douglas9401]

Many medical staff are overweight, ummmm, it's 'do as I say, not as I do' much like when the student doctors and nurses are on the town counting their intake of alcohol in units to avoid harming themselves.

[ummmm]

I used to live next door to a GP. He seemed to drink quite a lot, and smoked.

[naomi24]

Many overweight people know all there is to know about diets and nutrition but in my opinion they have the wrong attitude towards it. A friend who has been 'dieting' for about 20 years roasts her food dry or in water, uses no salt, drinks 'diet' drinks, but follows meals with cake and the comment 'naughty but nice'. I really believe that if she could ditch the idea that food she enjoys is 'naughty', she'd look less favourably upon it. She reminds me of a child daring to flout 'the rules'.

Like Cassa, I also think a lot of overweight people are in denial. I see many ladies who clearly make great efforts with their appearance - beautifully coiffured hair, perfect make-up, elegantly painted nails - but the body ….. ouch! I get the impression that they don't possess a full length mirror - or if they do, they don't look beyond their faces. I think a lot of fat people have a kind of love affair with food - an obsession that's difficult to conquer. Losing weight requires more than a change of diet - it requires a change of attitude towards food.

[anotheoldgit]

I once had a GP and the first thing he did after asking you to sit down was to offer you a cigarette.

And don't mention lady receptionists and nurses, they are in the main, very large proportioned ladies.