Photo of Professor Paul Gately

MoreLife welcomes governments strategy to tackle obesity

As a national provider of weight management and other healthy lifestyle services, MoreLife welcomes the government’s new strategy to tackle obesity.

Research has shown the increased risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19, with nearly 8% of critically ill patients with COVID-19 diagnosed as morbidly obese, compared with 2.9% of the general population.

Professor Paul Gately, founder / CEO of MoreLife, professor at the Leeds Beckett University and strategic advisor on the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Obesity which provided evidence to ensure appropriate measures have been taken, says:

“The long-term health risks of people being overweight or obese have been brought into sharp focus by the Covid-19 pandemic and we look forward to proactively supporting Public Health England’s “Better Health” campaign. With over two-thirds (63%) of the adult population in England living with obesity and one in three children leaving primary school overweight or obese, there has never been a better time to tackle this issue and help people to live longer, healthier and happier lives while reducing the strain on the NHS.”

MoreLife is commissioned by local health commissioners across England to deliver evidence-based adult weight-management programmes which improve health outcomes for local populations. Our current contracts for weight management and other healthy lifestyle services are in Bedfordshire & Milton Keynes, South & West Essex, Greater Manchester, Suffolk and Wakefield. All our contracts are commissioned by local CCG’s and councils.

Alongside our weight-management programmes, we deliver integrated school and workplace-based health and wellness programmes and provide consultancy for a wide range of corporate partners on key health-related projects.

Professor Paul Gately added:

“We are particularly pleased to hear about the government’s plans to expand weight management services through increased funding within the NHS and to incentivise healthcare practitioners to provide patients with relevant support to tackle their obesity.

With 90% of our service users referred to us by a GP, healthcare practitioner or related service, we know there is merit in a collaborative approach to tackling obesity. We will be working with existing and new primary care partners to tackle the national obesity challenge.”Picture is of Professor Paul Gately MD of MoreLife

MoreLife is the parent company of OneLife Suffolk