OBESITY is a factor in more than 120 emergency hospital admissions every month in south Worcestershire, new figures reveal.

As the eye-opening statistics show there are now an average of more than four emergency admissions linked to obesity every day, health chiefs have admitted the county is still a long way off from winning its battle against the bulge.

South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) says it has recorded an average of 127 obesity-related emergency admissions a month so far in 2013-14, more than triple the average of 40 a month in 2011/12 and an increase on the 95 a month average during 2012/13.

With an estimated 115,900 obese adults in Worcestershire and more than 60 per cent of the adult population overweight to some degree, weight-related issues are becoming an ever greater strain on stretched public finances.

Obesity is now estimated to cost £80 million to the NHS in Worcestershire every year as well as placing a further £60 million burden on the wider economy.

An official obesity plan for Worcestershire was launched in January to try and tip the scales back in the county’s favour. But almost a year in, director of public health Richard Harling has admitted there is much more to be done.

Reporting to the Worcestershire health and wellbeing board, he said: “There have been a number of interventions across the county to improve diet and physical activity as well as weight management.

“However the interventions to date appear to have been insufficient to have the impact required to shift the trend of increasing weight.”

Although the success of the obesity plan will not be gauged until statistics are brought back to the health and wellbeing board in a year’s time, Dr Harling admitted: “We are going to depend on people out there to change their behaviours if we are going to make a difference.”

As part of the efforts to fight the flab, more than 56 organisations attended a Big Obesity Debate at County Hall.

Dr Harling hailed the event as “interesting and quite good fun” and said it turned up some quite eye-opening results.

He said he was particularly surprised to find almost no support for the concept of people with morbid obesity having to pay for their own health and social care.

He said there was also no support for taxing “bad food” but that there are calls for more education and advice as well as an increased role for parents in tackling weight.

David Mehaffey, director of strategy at South Worcestershire CCG, said: “There has been a very stark increase (in obesity) and that is clearly a challenge that we will need to tackle.”