KENT NEWS: A controversial scheme that pays fat people for losing weight is to be extended following an “overwhelming” response to its Kent-based pilot.
The Weight Wins project – which is currently being trialled by NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent – offers patients up to £1,750 over two years to encourage them to diet and exercise.
The scheme is run by a private company, and was one of several weight-loss ideas trialled by the NHS over the last year.
Founder Winton Rossiter told reporters that 2,300 people applied for 400 places on the pilot when it was launched a year ago, and that the response had convinced him to extend the initiative and allow people to sign up privately.
He said: “We are offering new hope to dieters. Most people know how to lose weight but they fail to maintain their weight loss because of a lack of motivation.
“Providing a structured financial incentive programme is the key to helping our participants develop healthy lifestyles for the long term and to losing weight and keeping it off.”
Under the basic scheme, the dieter pays a one-off registration fee of £45 and a monthly rate of £10, while a higher plan costs £90 registration with a £20 monthly payment.
If the dieters lose weight to agreed targets, they start to receive payments from Weight Wins.
Despite Mr Rossiter’s enthusiasm over the supposed success of the project, a spokesman for NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent said the results of the pilot would not be analysed until after it finishes next month.
He added it was one of a range of initiatives the primary care trust was examining to combat the rising trend in obesity.
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley told KOS Media last year he was “sceptical” about using taxpayers’ cash to reward people for dieting.
He added: “Incentives should be geared around sustaining people’s drive to lose weight, for example by encouraging them to do more exercise, not simply handing over taxpayers’ hard-earned money
POSTED: 16/01/2010 15:00:00
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