Is the government serious about weight?

If weight is such an issue for the NHS why isn’t there more help on the NHS for losing weight?
I have been looking for some support to help me lose some weight as I now realise that at 50 I need to control my food intake or at least my cholesterol levels. First thing I did was to look at the NHS website. The support offered is either Slimming World or Weight Watchers, both commercial enterprises in the slimming business! Is this right? I don’t think so since the government is set on making us lose the extra pounds we have. Is either of those free or payable by the NHS? No, it is not! I therefore can’t understand why both are advertised on an NHS website. My toy wholesale website is certainly not advertised for free on the BTHA (British Toys and Hobby Association).

Yes both companies offer help but not free help. Both cost around £5 per week to join. When you look at the demographics of the people in need of help with weight loss, a great majority are in the lower income bracket. Those people are surely not able to pay £5 per week to be members of slimming clubs.  Mind you, it seems that people on low income are able to afford Sky TV if you go by the number of Sky dishes on council properties. It also seems that the same demographics are able to afford smoking cigarettes at well over £6 per packet. Almost 20 years ago, I smoked 20 Marlborough per day; at today’s price it would cost me almost £2,500 per year. I certainly could not afford this today.

The NHS are offering free NHS help on stopping smoking, why aren’t they doing the same on weight loss? I have been trying to make an appointment with my GP about weight loss. The earliest appointment I can get is just over one month from today… This is not an urgent appointment but a routine one. Something is surely wrong.

Overweight people will know that motivation to lose weight very often comes after a bad experience. Would you really wait for one month after a bad experience to make a life changing decision?

If the government was serious about helping people lose weight shouldn’t they either have slimming club membership on prescription or have their own weight loss clubs?