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Why GPs should ‘stop whingeing’, Weight Watchers on the NHS and why giving up smoking isn’t always harmless

Overpaid doctors must stop whingeing, writes the Times in an opinion piece this morning, hitting out at the RCGP’s new poster campaign to save general practice.

Columnist Alice Thomson, whose own grandfather was a GP, says the profession needs to stop ‘lobbying for money’ and instead ‘modernise and adapt to increasing demand’.

Meanwhile, today’s front pages – of both the Daily Mail and the Telegraph – promises Weight Watchers free on the NHS.

The articles report on the new NICE guidance for treating obese patients, which gives advice on what type of lifestyle weight programmes CCGs should commission and GPs should refer patients to. Based on the latest statistics, 64% of UK adults are overweight or obese.

The Daily Mail reports that sugar is ‘increasingly implicated as a specific causal factor’, with a leading professor on the topic calling on the Government to follow the example of California in considering cigatette packet-style warning labels imaging obesity, diabetes and tooth decay on sweetened drinks.

Meanwhile, giving up your vices is not always a smooth journey, as the Mirror reports on a woman who saw her house engulfed in flames after her e-cigarette blew up.

She said: ‘It had been charging for 40 minutes when there was an almighty bang and flames started coming out. The carpet was on fire.’


          

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