Difference between revisions of "National Obesity Forum"
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The [[National Obesity Forum]] (NOF) was established by medical practitioners in May 2000 to raise awareness of the growing health impact that being overweight or obese was having on patients and the National Health Service (NHS). | The [[National Obesity Forum]] (NOF) was established by medical practitioners in May 2000 to raise awareness of the growing health impact that being overweight or obese was having on patients and the National Health Service (NHS). | ||
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:'When Ian set up the forum in 2000 people in primary care weren't talking about obesity. It wasn't on their radar. He has created a body of people involved in the NOF who have woken up to the fact that obesity matters and that primary care is in the frontline,' said Jebb.<ref>[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1676038,00.html Obesity group founder quits in row over drug firms' cash] Denis Campbell, social affairs correspondent Sunday January 1, 2006 The Observer, accessed 17 November 2007</ref> | :'When Ian set up the forum in 2000 people in primary care weren't talking about obesity. It wasn't on their radar. He has created a body of people involved in the NOF who have woken up to the fact that obesity matters and that primary care is in the frontline,' said Jebb.<ref>[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1676038,00.html Obesity group founder quits in row over drug firms' cash] Denis Campbell, social affairs correspondent Sunday January 1, 2006 The Observer, accessed 17 November 2007</ref> | ||
| − | NOF Statement - Anti-Obesity Medication | + | |
| − | 16th November 2007 | + | == NOF Statement - Anti-Obesity Medication == |
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| − | The | + | On the 16th November 2007 the NOF released a press statement that stated |
| − | + | " The NOF remains convinced that the use of anti-obesity medication, in line with NICE guidance, is justified in serious medical condition. | |
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Many studies have shown that the three currently available drugs cause significantly greater weight loss than placebo. Any assessment of effectiveness most go beond levels of weight loss and consider the reduction of obesity related risk factors. All three currently available drugs favourably influences most risk factors. | Many studies have shown that the three currently available drugs cause significantly greater weight loss than placebo. Any assessment of effectiveness most go beond levels of weight loss and consider the reduction of obesity related risk factors. All three currently available drugs favourably influences most risk factors. | ||
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In the absence of an effective preventive strategy this means that health professionals are left with life style advice and anti-obesity medication as the only means of helping vulnerable people at high risk of life threatening diseases. | In the absence of an effective preventive strategy this means that health professionals are left with life style advice and anti-obesity medication as the only means of helping vulnerable people at high risk of life threatening diseases. | ||
| − | The NOF therefore reiterates its belief that the appropriate use of anti-obesity medication is both cost effective and fully justified on clinical grounds. | + | The NOF therefore reiterates its belief that the appropriate use of anti-obesity medication is both cost effective and fully justified on clinical grounds." |
Dr Colin Waine | Dr Colin Waine | ||
Chairman - National Obesity Forum . | Chairman - National Obesity Forum . | ||
| − | <ref [http://nationalobesityforum.org.uk/content/view/356/186/ NOF Statement Anti-obesity Medicine] Dr Colin Waine, Chairman National Obesity Forum, 16 November 2007, accessed 29 November 2007 </ref> | + | <ref> [http://nationalobesityforum.org.uk/content/view/356/186/ NOF Statement Anti-obesity Medicine] Dr Colin Waine, Chairman National Obesity Forum, 16 November 2007, accessed 29 November 2007 </ref> |
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==People== | ==People== | ||
Revision as of 14:13, 29 November 2007
The National Obesity Forum (NOF) was established by medical practitioners in May 2000 to raise awareness of the growing health impact that being overweight or obese was having on patients and the National Health Service (NHS).
Their website states "The NOF is particularly concerned with the lack of focus on prevention and structured management of overweight and obese individuals in primary care and the knock-on effects this has on society. Obesity, as a disease, and as a social-economic issue, has widespread ramifications, not just for the health service, but also for industry, education and government." Aims and Objectives of the NOF are
- To create recognition of obesity as a serious medical problem
- To provide education and training on obesity management
- To produce guidelines for obesity management within primary care
- To provide a network for health professionals and an obesity management support and information resource
- To convince Government and healthcare works to give obesity a high priority nationally and locally.
- To raise the profile of obesity via medical and lay media channels
- To highlight the health inequalities of obesity
- To promote quality clinical care via an annual "Best Practice Awards"
According to Robert Thomson the Editor of the Times in 2006:
- The Obesity group is supported by the National Obesity Forum. In January, the President of the National Obesity Forum, Dr Ian Campbell, quit claiming it had become too dependent on drug company funding. The forum lists GlaxoSmithKline UK ltd, Slim Fast Food Ltd, Tanita UK Ltd, Sanofi-Aventis Ltd as amongst their “partners".[1]
Contents
Drug industry front group?
- Britain's leading anti-obesity campaigner has quit the pioneering organisation he founded, claiming it has become too dependent on drug company funding. Dr Ian Campbell, a GP who has won acclaim for his groundbreaking work to help patients who are seriously overweight, resigned as president of the National Obesity Forum.
- In his resignation letter, he makes a series of claims about its performance, internal management and a 'loss of direction' caused by the influence of its big pharmaceutical backers.Campbell alleges the forum is too attached to 'ineffective' medical methods for treating people once they become obese - including the administration of weight- loss drugs - rather than working with government to devise radical ways of stopping them gaining excess weight in the first place.
- Campbell told The Observer last night that he was 'greatly saddened by the forum's loss of direction'. Its trustees' eagerness to secure continued drug company funding meant it had tailored its messages to suit them, he said. 'Four of the forum's five trustees strongly support the medical weight loss management approach, which stresses the treatment of obesity. That is only one aspect of the obesity debate.
- 'We need to move from raising awareness about obesity to taking action to prevent people becoming obese, and the forum should be working to help government tackle this problem', he said.
- It also emerged last week that the forum's board tried to muzzle Campbell by threatening him with an injunction and a claim for damages if he continued to make 'disparaging or derogatory statements' about the forum or approached any of its sponsors.
- Dr Colin Waine, the forum chairman and a visiting professor at University of Sunderland, refused to discuss Campbell's unexpected departure. 'That's an internal board matter. I don't want to go into the details about why he left,' he said.
- Asked why Campbell had been sent a lawyer's letter, Waine replied: 'That's not anything we want to broadcast in the media.' Waine denied there had been serious disagreements over the forum's direction, saying its objectives had been the same since 2000.
- Dr Howard Stoate, a GP and Labour MP for Dartford who is co-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on obesity, said: 'I'm very sorry that Ian is leaving the forum. He's been very important and has been extremely influential in raising obesity up the political agenda to the point where the government is taking it much more seriously. That's due in some measure to the work of the forum and Ian personally. He's been a driving force.'
'Five years ago obesity was seen as a social and cosmetic problem. Now it's seen for what it is: a major public health problem that shortens lives, causes serious ill-health and is a huge burden on the NHS.' Dr Susan Jebb, of the Medical Research Council's Human Nutrition Research centre at Cambridge University, said Campbell and the forum had done much to ensure that health professionals took obesity far more seriously.
- 'When Ian set up the forum in 2000 people in primary care weren't talking about obesity. It wasn't on their radar. He has created a body of people involved in the NOF who have woken up to the fact that obesity matters and that primary care is in the frontline,' said Jebb.[2]
NOF Statement - Anti-Obesity Medication
On the 16th November 2007 the NOF released a press statement that stated " The NOF remains convinced that the use of anti-obesity medication, in line with NICE guidance, is justified in serious medical condition. Many studies have shown that the three currently available drugs cause significantly greater weight loss than placebo. Any assessment of effectiveness most go beond levels of weight loss and consider the reduction of obesity related risk factors. All three currently available drugs favourably influences most risk factors.
The NOF agrees that long term outcomes studies are needed, but point out these will take many years yield the necessary information. At present we have to deal with the obesity epidemic using current knowledge.
While the NOF's preferred position is prevention, it has to point out the despite clear warnings dating back to the 1976 when (obesity levels 6% in men and 7% in women) successive governments have lacked the political will and courage to take effective preventive measures.
The result is that in this country about a quarter of the population is obese and is at high risk of many of the major killers in modern society, coronary heart disease type 2 diabetes and many cancers.
In the absence of an effective preventive strategy this means that health professionals are left with life style advice and anti-obesity medication as the only means of helping vulnerable people at high risk of life threatening diseases.
The NOF therefore reiterates its belief that the appropriate use of anti-obesity medication is both cost effective and fully justified on clinical grounds."
Dr Colin Waine Chairman - National Obesity Forum . [3]
People
The NOF Trustees
Dr Colin Waine Dept of Primary care, Univ of Sunderland, Chair | Dr David Haslam GP, Hertfordshire Clinical Director | Jane DeVille-Almond Practice Nurse Education | Shamil Chandaria Honorary Patron | Karan Thomas Training Consultant | [[Dr Jonathan Pinkney Consultant BSc, MB BS, MD, FRCP. | Dr Ashley Adamson Senior Lecturer BSc, SRD, PhD, RPHNutr | Tam Fry Honorary Chairman, Child Growth Foundation | Paul Sacher Research Director, MEND Programme | Helen Johnson Parliamentary Affairs Executive team member | Maria Voce Office Manager, Company secretary, Executive team member
Partners
- All-Party Parliamentary Group on Obesity
- Department of Health
- National Institute of Clinical Excellence
- Royal College of Paediatricians
- Association for the Study of Obesity
- National Audit Office
- Korean Academy of Family Physicians
- National Association of Primary Care
- Roche Products Ltd
- Abbott Laboratories
- Slim Fast Foods Ltd
- Safeway Foods plc
- Tanita UK Ltd
- Sanofi-Aventis Ltd
- Mantis Surgical Equipment Ltd
- GlaxoSmithKline UK Ltd
- Canderel
- British Meat Nutrition Education Services
- Rosemary Conley Enterprises
- Carlton TV Ltd
- The Obesity Awareness and Solutions Trust[4]
PR agencies
Affiliations
- Obesity All Party Parliamentary Group, provides support to the Group
Contact details
Address: First Floor 6a Gordon Road Nottingham NG2 5LN
Tel: 0115 846 2109 Email: info@nof.uk.com website: http://nationalobesityforum.org.uk
Notes
- ↑ House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges, Written evidence received by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards 1. Letter to the Commissioner from Mr Robert Thomson, 20 January 2006 Lobbying and All Party Groups Ninth Report of Session 2005–06
- ↑ Obesity group founder quits in row over drug firms' cash Denis Campbell, social affairs correspondent Sunday January 1, 2006 The Observer, accessed 17 November 2007
- ↑ NOF Statement Anti-obesity Medicine Dr Colin Waine, Chairman National Obesity Forum, 16 November 2007, accessed 29 November 2007
- ↑ http://nationalobesityforum.org.uk/content/view/24/160/, accessed 17 November 2007
