Obese people are discriminated against in the job market

(15/06/2010)

The recession may be drawing to a close but its affects are still gripping the UK. With unemployment levels at their highest since 1994, finding a job has become a serious competition and those that win are not always the ones most qualified.

National Slimming Clinics are offering to help five active job seekers local to each of their 30 nationwide slimming and cosmetic clinics, by providing them with a medically supervised weight loss and management programme, designed to help the overweight lose 13Ibs or more in the first month followed by a consistent weight loss of 6Ibs each month thereafter. This unique three step scheme will be offered free of charge and aims to help job seekers get healthy, improve their confidence and get back on their feet.

Robert Houtman, Managing Director of National Slimming Clinics says: “Successive governments have done nothing to help the overweight either lose weight or find jobs and the NHS offers little help for the obese because NICE restricts funding for obesity treatments by putting impossible conditions on treatment. Patients are turned away from doctors surgeries because they are not quite heavy enough or they are told they have to lose 5% of their body weight by themselves before they qualify to be treated. The NHS need to recognise that obesity is not a disease it is equipped to treat and cooperate with private CQC registered clinics to provide real help and support. Countless studies have shown that obese people are discriminated against in the job market despite their qualifications but still, with unemployment going through the roof, the government fails to help them.”

Alison West, 44, Crowley West Sussex, worked for the airlines and was made redundant during cut backs in the recession. When she tried to get back to work she realised that her weight (nearly 16 stone) was holding her back. She says “I would wait for interviews surrounded by thin women who were not as qualified or experienced as me but who looked the part and inevitably I was turned down. I weighed 16 stone but I felt invisible.”

Alison signed up with her local National Slimming Clinic and took part in the weight management scheme. She lost 5 stone and found a job as a manager in a local business. She says “My confidence was restored. The NSC weight loss plan was so easy to follow and the weekly check ups gave me the support to keep me on track. But my biggest incentive is my fat pictures that I keep in a drawer at work to remind me how far I’ve come!”

Related categories:  Weight loss