NEWS
TOP: Community pharmacist
Gareth Evans. ABOVE: staff at the
local pharmacy. BELOW: Two of
the sites that have successfully
offered Waistaway.
PHARMACISTS WEIGHT-LOSS RESULTS
A community pharmacist based in the
East of England has published significant
results from his weight management
service, showing that pharmacies are
ideally placed to provide practical weight
loss support, taking the strain off the NHS.
For 17 years, Gareth Evans has
offered Waistaway - personalised
weight-loss plans and support, including
for people with Type 2 diabetes, based
upon the recognised NICE guidelines.
There are choices of Waistaway diets
and products so that it's best suited to
individual's needs, and some include
meal replacement programmes.
Data from Evans' pharmacy clinics
show dramatic results with mean weight
losses of 10.1% and has helped over
1,000 dieters gain medical benefit
through pharmacist-led, non-medicated
weight-loss support and importantly at
no cost to the NHS.
This study into the service proves
pharmacy can take a critical healthcare
professional role in weight management
support, offering the NHS a route to
potentially huge savings. Results from the
study show that:
• A greater than 5% reduction in weight
resulted in significant improvements in
Type 2 diabetes, blood pressure and
cholesterol levels.
• A total of 1,875 dieting sequences
were recorded from 1,023 dieters. In
1,261 (67.3%) sequences, a medically
beneficial weight loss of >5% was
achieved.
• The results demonstrate that
community pharmacies can make a
significant contribution to reducing the
obesity epidemic at no cost to statefunded health systems.
Evans says: "We hope this publication
creates more action to give true weight
loss the serious consideration it demands,
by the government and healthcare
sectors, and the public. Pharmacy is
ideally placed to reduce the clinical and
financial strain many 'lifestyle' diseases
cause the NHS, such as type 2 diabetes
and hypertension."
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