Obesity levels are on the rise in Britain, and apparently, Wirral takes the cake when it comes to being the fattest.
A new study by Health and Social Care Information Centre has shamed Wirral as being England’s ‘fat-capital’ in new statistics which reveal areas of the country that see the most overweight people treated in hospital.
Figures relating to people in Wirral Council, which includes the towns of Birkenhead and Wallasey, show they are three times as likely compared to the national average to have hospital treatments where medics make note of them being overweight, The Mirror reports.
In the last year, Wirral hospitals had 9,286 appointments with people where obesity was either the main issue or an additional issue medics noted on their records while treating them for something else.
Across the whole of England, there were around 811 appointments for every 100,000 people last year in hospitals where obesity was noted.
In Wirral, the rate was more than triple that. Holding the highest rate in the country, there were 2,894 appointments for every 100,000 people last year. With one of the main towns noted in Wirral as Wallasey – the birthplace of Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood. Ironic?
At the other end of the scale, the area with the fewest admissions was the London borough of Richmond with a rate of only 238.
Separate figures also show that the rate of prescribing drugs used to help patients reduce their weight is also higher in Merseyside than anywhere else in the country, according to The Mirror.
And even more shocking, the study reveals that over half of men and women in England are overweight or obese, with the prevalence of obesity rising from 15 per cent in 1993 to 26 per cent in 2014.
Cornwall, Bradford, Torbay, and Salford also topped the list for most obese areas in England – coming in at top 5.
Looks like England needs to get some exercise…
