Nurses should take a larger role in dealing with patients who are obese, perhaps because they do not do enough exercise in their gym clothing, an expert has suggested.

Professor Jonathan Pinkney, an expert in the field of obesity at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in Plymouth, said that as obesity rates rise, the country will find it difficult to afford an "army of doctors" to take care of overweight patients.

"Not everybody needs their care to be heavily medicalised, so practice nurses are far more appropriate," Mr Pinkney said.

His comments follow the publication of research conducted by the School for Public Health and Primary Care at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

This found that people with high body mass indices are more likely to attend their GPs than people of a normal weight.

The study also found that women who lead a sedentary lifestyle visit their GPs more regularly than their active counterparts.

Posted by Sue Wallis ADNFCR-2569-ID-800032082-ADNFCR

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