A Maximum BMI for nurses

[soapydopeybubbles]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/21/how-public-thinks-nhs-should-change/

According to the Telegraph one of the most popular ideas for improving the NHS is to have a maximum BMI for nurses. This is from the website set up for suggestions but also continues in the comments for the article.

I'm a neonatal nurse and I am classed as obese. I wear L/XL scrubs and I'm a dress size 14-16.

Does the public honestly think that I'd be a better nurse if I was thinner? Or, as written in the comments, if I wore a cap and apron, had no tattoos and didn't dye my hair?

I'm a large woman but I'm pretty sure I wasn't magically better and making up complex medications, changing ridiculously tiny nappies and resuscitating sick newborns when I was rather thinner than I am now.

I can see why people might have the opinion that if we're giving out health advice we should lead by example but it's mainly the doctors giving the advice and the nurses doing the hands on caring.

I just don't understand why there seems to be such a focus on how a particular staff group looks, rather than the actual issues in the NHS.

AIBU?

I couldn't care less if the person saving my baby's life looked like the bloody elephant man tbh- so long as they saved my baby.
So long as someone was able to competently care for me or my child or loved one then their tattoos, piercings, hair colour or weight wouldn't bother me one bit
Intelligence, competence and bedside manner are far more important imo.

And this from the Telegraph, what a surprise.... saying that, there'd be very few nurses left.

Is fatness contagious??! 😱

@Pippa246

brilliant.

just what we need, fewer nurses & because they're fat.

if anyone genuinely thought half that crap was right, them maybe a fitness test is in order not a fatness test.

@soapydopeybubbles I don't care how fat the nurses is, I rather value competent & caring.

I don't care about tattoos or peacock hair! A nurses that can read a drugs chart goes a long way in my experience!!

hang in there kiddo!!

Perhaps it’s inefficient but it’s irrelevant to the topic. Is it ok for doctors to be overweight because they are qualified to prescribe ? Sorry you have confused me. I also don’t see what you mean by “waste of time”. The nurse has done her job by taking the weight and asking the questions. I don’t see how her size is relevant, it really has nothing to do with you.

Of course they do? Have you never been fat??

Having thought about this, how many 100,00s of vacancies are there currently in the NHS?

I vaguely recall the (coincidentally overweight?) Conservative Secretary of State for Health stating that staff were welcome to leave if they didn't like the pay and were unhappy about the absence of pay increases as the government 'could always import more HCPs from overseas' (putting aside the government wanting to decrease immigration hence they'd also sabotaged higher education and also that this statement was made when there were 100,000s of vacancies so if that avenue was a solution, there wouldn't be any vacancies).

I'd also be willing to bet that if a size 8 nurse was giving weight loss advice she'd be called a smug teeny tiny with good genes who didn't have a clue how hard it was. Truth is people don't like to be given advice to lose weight and they shoot the messenger.

I think she’s worried the nurse might not have clocked that she is skinnier than the nurse and is irritated that she is not being given her “due regard” in that respect.

Probably have to agree, and I say this as a nurse with a BMI of 30.

I recognise the difference extra weight has on me to be able to do my job. I can still kneel on the floor to get bloods and get back up (without holding onto something just yet ) But I feel the strain and I know the day is coming when I can't complete my role as I need to so I do need to look at ways to become healthier.

I've worked with nurses much bigger than me who can't manage an hour never mind a full shift stood up. It's bad, nursing cannot be done from a seat, it just can't.

And I do agree that it's very rich to give health promotion advice such as eating well, not smoking, drinking less if you don't practice what you preach.

We have to be able to physically help patients and we have to be role models. Nursing isnt compulsory there are other jobs if you feel being physically fit is not how you want to be.

Why should they be leading by example? I doubt any person on earth has looked at a nurse and decided to become fat or thin like the nurse.

I have health issues, they cause me to be massively overweight, doesn't mean I can't give a patient advice on drinking or smoking...

That’s exactly what I think.

I can’t think of anything more humiliating than being given an enema by a supermodel with a perfectly waxed bikini area. Might be some men who’d enjoy it I guess.

Nurses don't tell you to do anything. They just give you information. It's up to you if you do anything with that information or not. If you want to be healthy lose weight, stop smoking, and exercise regularly. That message doesn't change just because the person giving it is overweight.

So obviously this is ridiculous. This is just a typical rage bait article to distract people from the actual issue which is the NHS was underfunded and noone knows how to fix it.

I would support a fitness/strength requirment for nurses who role requires frequent heavy lifting for paitents that are very dependent to prevent workplace injuries but BMI is nothing to do with it.

As a country we are totally in denial about the serious implications that obesity has on long term health and wellbeing.

However demonising overweight nurses is not the way to improve things. Not at all.

What do you expect from the Telegraph?
It obvious nonsense. Even if some members of the public want it it's up there with batshittery like 'bring back hanging'
Totally unworkable in reality.

Yes we should just pay nurses better and also actually make the NHS respect workers rights and not have them do back to back 12 hour night shifts.
Then perhaps they'd have the time and money to cook from scratch and go to the gym and get 8 hours sleep.

@Pippa246 I’d also question their moving and handling techniques

If you ever actually worked in the Community you would appreciate that moving and handling techniques are a very fluid description of what actually happens in reality. Moving and handling training in our Trust is entirely based around the patient being in a single hospital bed, having access to moving and handling aids such as a hoist, stand aid, turntable etc , not one paltry slide sheet, in a cluttered room/hoarded house, with a king sized bed up against the wall, with a variety of pets getting in the way ( the free range parrot was a particular favorite ) and the patient has a blocked catheter which needs dealing with now, because they are besides themselves in pain !

It’s just blooming rude really that someone could lose their job over their BMI. My life is ridiculously stressful and I comfort eat, to think that the one thing that improves my MH could lead to me losing my job.

my obese GP has mentioned my weight, but always prefixes it with ‘don’t do as I do’. My slimming leader (who has lost lots and still has a way to go) is an inspiration.

Wow what offensive nonsense. As if a nurse’s weight/diet/exercise regime is going to be preoccupying patients when they actually need that person’s care and expertise…. And what a nerve people have!

I see plenty overweight people in the NHS and I can understand where the sentiment comes from to get health care providers to be - well - health(ier). Obesity does put pressure on the cardiovascular system and joints - everybody knows that. I am taking issue with the root causes for obesity in NHS personnel: rubbish, low quality food, vending machines galore and excessively long shifts that vary in night/day patterns damaging staff health. I find the Guardian article and various others like that just goady: who gooses to be obese - absolutely no one. Yet the employer doesn’t care or they would fundamentally change working conditions for the people they employ.

Size doesn’t say a lot about people in terms of ability and capacity - I do however think it speaks volumes about their ability to self care and stress levels.

correction: not a lot of>> doesn’t say anything. I was typing something else first.

The emergency alarm goes off, can you run fast enough and administer emergency treatment?

Yes? Then no problem.

It would be wonderful if all medical professionals, nurses, doctors, health-care assistants, worked in a less stressful environment, with good healthy food provided, and in work patterns that didn't cause them to binge/snack when they finally do get a break. Treat those with obesity/diabetes/blood pressure immediately. Ensure everyone is as fit to work as they can be. That would be wonderful, but I don't suspect that's what the ridiculous writer of this idea was getting at. I also bet a 10000% they are not a normal BMI themselves, because they will be a middle-aged man.

Unlikely to be needed in a GP surgery.