Fat men offered up to £400 to lose weight and given daily texts urging them to ‘avoid the kebab shop’ in NHS’s ‘Game of Stones’ trial

The NHS is paying obese men up to £400 to lose weight while sending text message reminders to shed the pounds.

The trial – dubbed Game of Stones – involves men being texted daily tips including ‘walk a different route home to avoid the kebab shop’ and ‘don’t treat your body like a skip’.

Researchers said the scheme could now be rolled out across the NHS, adding the levels of weight loss achieved were much greater than that seen in slimming classes.

The study was funded by the government and recruited 585 men from Bristol, Glasgow and Belfast through GP surgeries.

They were challenged to lose 10 per cent of their body weight in a year and keep it off, while given a cash incentive of £400.

Typically, the men lost 4.8 per cent of their body weight and got £128 each, while 27 men succeeded and were given the full £400.

The messages were written ‘by men and for men’, which proved more popular than classes where men said they did not like being told what to do.

They received £50 if they lost five per cent of their body weight within three months and another £150 for losing ten per cent within six months.

A final £200 is given if they keep this weight off for another six months with men having four weigh-ins a year.

The trial is still ongoing, and the approach will now be tested in women as well, according to findings presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Venice.

Experts said paying people to lose weight is likely to be cost-effective for the NHS in the long-run, as it reduces treatment costs for obesity-related conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Study author Professor Pat Hoddinott, from the University of Stirling in Scotland, said the program is ‘ready to scale up now and we’re confident it can be done’.

She added: ‘The weight lost was greater than for a lot of the behavioural weight management services that are currently offered across the UK. They tend to be very intensive and we found they don’t appeal to men.

‘Losing weight can make people feel better, reduce their risk of many health problems such as diabetes, and helps the health service with their aim to keep men well. However, we know men often don’t like to go to traditional weight loss groups.

‘The research showed that offering cash incentives was a popular and effective way of helping men to lose weight.

‘This initiative would be a low-cost solution for the health service to offer to men, requiring only four short weight appointments, and with money paid out only at the end to those who lose over 5 per cent of their starting weight.’

The scheme was an ‘attractive option for GPs’ researchers said and better than the current recommendation given to patients of attending 12 weight-loss sessions.

She said: ‘Attendance drops off a lot for those [slimming classes]– it is good at the start but people stop going. As a GP I saw that all the time so that’s why I wanted to design something that was easier for the NHS. Texts alone were not enough – the financial incentives were that extra little motivator.’

Professor Haddinott said she hopes that in the long-term the scheme ‘would pay for itself’ as patients would need less treatment.

Research shows the NHS spends an average of £979 to £1,375 per year looking after an obese patient, compared to £638 for someone of a healthy weight, due to lower rates of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and joint pain.

Jane DeVille-Almond, president of the British Obesity Society, said cash rewards would likely be cheaper for the NHS than the cost of paying staff for more intensive weight loss clinics.

She said: ‘This is exciting news and we definitely need an easy and cost-effective way of getting society to lose weight.

‘Men are a particularly difficult group to engage in our healthcare system, so texts and financial incentives is a great way forward.’