British Fat Nurse Program

(United Kingdom) At a cost of £250,000 ($500,000), British taxpayers will foot the bill for the National Health Service (NHS) fat nurse program.

Overweight nurses are to get personal trainers and high street vouchers to encourage them to lose weight.

More than 200 NHS staff are being equipped with pedometers and offered motivational fitness coaches to help them slim down.

They have been promised £20 of high street store vouchers if they manage to keep the weight off during the year-long pilot.

The scheme, as it is called, encompasses "motivational talks from health coaches and participants can upload data from their pedometers onto a computer to chart their progress." Also, rewards and vouchers will be given for those completing health assessment forms and participating in events.

In all candor, the program, as described, doesn't seem to be anything worth getting jazzed about. A year of following a mandated regimen for a lousy £20 ($40) payout is hardly a windfall and I can't imagine any nurse wanting to fill out more forms or spend more time uploading data to a computer.

Critics believe the money would be better spent on treating patients.