Obese people could face benefit cuts

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Northerner

Northerner

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Obese and other unhealthy people could be monitored to check whether they are taking exercise and have their benefits cut if they fail to do so under proposals published on Thursday by a Conservative-run council and a local government thinktank.

Westminster council and the Local Government Information Unit say new technologies such as smart cards could be used to track claimants' use of leisure centres, allowing local authorities to dock housing and council benefit payments from those who refuse to carry out exercise prescribed by their GP.

The report, A Dose of Localism: the Role of Councils in Public Health, precedes the transfer in April of responsibility for community wellbeing and public health from the NHS to local authorities.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/03/obesity-benefits-cuts
 
Now normally I would say 'hey!'.
But I have just been watching the Chawners on TV this Christmas and I am not sure now whether it might be a good idea for some!
 
Can you get use of swimming pool/Gym prescribed on the NHS? Sounds like a great idea. Now how do I get to my nearest one (only 35 miles away).
 
Ther's only one lake in Scotland! and the people die in Lochs because of the cold. Apart from that the Lochs don't take smart cards so how do you prove you have exercised.
 
Vicsetter said:
Ther's only one lake in Scotland! and the people die in Lochs because of the cold. Apart from that the Lochs don't take smart cards so how do you prove you have exercised.
Click to expand...

:D Actually that crossed my mind as well - what if you wanted to do exercise that didn't involve leisure centres etc., like walking or running?
 
I have just been discussing this.....

Like any financial decision these days, it tricky, tough even.........but definitely worth exploring.......🙂
 
LOL

Well I live reasonably close to a Leisure Centre as it happens and although our docs do prescribe referrals to such places, they can't for me and my husband because they are in Coventry and we can't use the LC in Coventry because we aren't in Coventry. We can use the 'near' one in Bedworth either by car or bus and a half-mile walk, but of course the doc can't prescribe the Bedworth one because he is in Coventry and it's a different council ! (Nuneaton & Bed)

Pete has an iffy knee (calcification of the cartilage no doubt caused by being a gymnast in his youth and misuse the rest of his life without proper warm-up and cool down etc sessions and kneeling on rungs of horizontal ladders to lay concrete bases for garages and sundry other such things LOL) and was referred to an osteopath at the (Cov) hospital who ref'd him for physio, which took place in the hospital gym. (Who knew they had one?) According to the physios, people apparently don't bother to turn up for even those hospital appts, let alone Leisure Centre ones. He did - I would like to add !

So YES - they should take action against people who don't keep any medical-type appts, unless there are mitigating circumstances. If people won't willingly accept responsilibility for themselves then they do have to be made to, don't they?
 
Its the paper work that will be created, which comes with a cost, in order to establish who actually qualifies for exemption from the plans, some people cant get exercising due to certain conditions, some of which are complicated.....

As I said, worth exploring........
 
After I was diagnosed with a suspected heart attack I was prescribed a course at a leisure centre but didn't go for a number of reasons. I felt I was being pressured into it, and didn't think I needed it (and I didn't, I just got back running again). Also, the leisure centre was right at the other side of town and the appointments were for 9 am, so would have involved two (expensive, for me) bus journeys at the height of rush hour. If they are going to prescribe things they have to be practical for people.

Interestingly, my local library is under threat from council spending cuts, which will mean there is no venue for a very popular Tai Chi class (along with loads of other activities that take place there).
 
Frightening Big Brother stuff.
What's the connection between health and benefits ?
And I thought the Tories were against the Nanny state ?
What next ? Cut the benefits of diabetics who fail to get A1cs in line ?
if you throw a fatty out of social housing to live and beg on the street because they are not going to the Gym ( curious the assumption being made that you can only exercise in a private gym) what has been gained ?
in any case what would they have to do - swipe in at the gym, sit in the cafe having lattes and carrot cake and then swipe out after half an hour ?
Can we give Smart Cards to MPs to track their expenses ?
 
Southampton council are doing their bit in a roundabout way - they are cutting subsidies to bus services so that people without cars will have to walk as some services will disappear after 6pm :(

Also, do they think that only people on benefits suffer from weight problems?

This is nearly as mad as the 'lifestyle' disease penalties that were proposed recently! 🙄
 
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