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OBESE KIDS’ SLIMMING HOLIDAYS
Youngsters could be sent to lose weight during school break
OBESE children could be sent to “fat camps” to help them lose weight during school holidays.
Health chiefs are targeting overweight youngsters after new figures revealed more than one in five of Camden’s 10-years-olds are clinically obese.
The Child Weight Management Programme, devised by the Department of Health and set to be introduced by NHS Camden, includes the possibility of sending overweight seven to 17-year-olds to a “residential camp” based in the expansive grounds of a school in West Yorkshire.
The week-long “Carnegie Camp” guarantees kids will lose two to four pounds of “100 per cent fat” through light exercise regimes and holistic therapy sessions.
Other authorities have tried the scheme with glowing feedback but it is the first time “fat camps” will have been used in Camden.
NHS Camden, the borough’s Primary Care Trust, began advertising for a contract for a new “Child Weight Maintenance Service” last week.
While camps to encourage overweight children to slim down have been promoted by the the Department of Health, there remains a fear that selecting overweight kids from schools will leave them with lasting complexes and could lead to bullying.
Psychologist Vicky Lawson, based at Weight Concern in University College London, Bloomsbury, said: “There is no quick fix. We don’t want children to become over-concerned about their weight. As long as Camden is taking a sound, evidence-based approach then I think they should be applauded.”
A report published last month found a staggering 23 per cent of 10 to 11-year-olds in Camden are clinically obese – far higher than the national average. Scores are calculated using the Body Mass Index (BMI) system. The statistics follow a mass weighing programme between 2006 and 2008 in which 91 per cent of Camden primary schools took part. The worst affected areas are Camden’s most deprived wards: Regent’s Park, St Pancras and Somers Town, Haverstock and Kilburn.
Former Camden Mayor Councillor Heather Johnson, now chairwoman of the council’s Children’s, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee, said: “Camps could lead to bullying and they should be made fun so children welcome them. I can understand the PCT targeting the overweight. But I think healthy eating measures should be available to all children.”
Experts blame the rising levels of child obesity on easy access to junk food.
Childhood obesity can pave the way for major health problems in later life including coronary heart disease – Camden’s biggest killer – type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, polycystic ovaries, cancer and social problems such as reduced self-esteem and confidence, peer rejection and isolation.
It can be tackled with drugs and surgery, but doctors believe the kind of therapy and diet advice given in fat camps would be a better approach.
NHS Camden is looking for a provider for its Child Weight Management Service (CWMS), replacing a service provided by nurses in doctors’ surgeries in 2010. The provider would have to conform to the CWMS template set out by the Department of Health.
A special team would assess children, manage case-loads and monitor progress in community centres, libraries and doctors surgeries.
NHS Camden’s public health obesity chief Katie Williams said: “NHS Camden is working to prevent the rising obesity levels by engaging with schools to educate children about healthy eating and physical activity. We are also investing in improved child weight management services to help the borough’s children, of which 30 per cent suffer from childhood obesity or are overweight.” |
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