DOCTORS will send obese patients on a new calorie-burning water workout from next month to help them get into shape.

Oxford City Council is launching new swimming classes next week at Blackbird Leys Swimming Pool to help severely overweight people take the plunge and lose weight.

At the moment the GP referral obesity swim programme offers obese people the chance to go swimming as part of a get fit weight loss programme.

But the new classes take the exercise up a gear to boost the number of calories burned in each class.

A person is considered obese if they have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more.

It comes as fighting obesity continues to hit the headlines.

Last month, the Oxford Mail revealed the number of people approved for gastric band surgery had more than doubled in three years.

And this week a National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence panel praised schemes offering people money to lose weight.

Swimming teacher Brenda Cardy, of Hollow Way, Cowley, is also expecting swimmers with other health problems, including arthritis and others just battling old age.

The 74-year-old, who is used to teaching children at the closure-threatened Temple Cowley Pools, said: “I was really up for it when they asked me, as it will be such a different challenge.

“I think some of them won’t be used to exercise, if they are not that’s the first thing I will have to get through to them, it’s got to be regular.”

Mrs Cardy said for some patients just coming to the pool and getting undressed and dressed would be a challenge. She said: “That is going to be more exercise than some of them will be used to.

“Being in the water gives you that light feeling because it holds you up.

“One lady I have taught is 84. She will never learn to swim but she just enjoys being in the water and it makes all her aches and pains go away.

“It also makes you feel good and it can help people lose weight.”

In July, the Oxford Mail revealed that £500,000 will be spent to encourage severely overweight people in Oxfordshire change their attitudes towards food.

One in four adults in the county are classed as obese, which is expected to be costing local health services £159m a year by 2015.

Mrs Cardy plans to adapt the exercise according to the needs of the group, but said it would include swimming and aerobic exercises, as well as walking in the water.

Leon Popplewell, sports and community development officer for Fusion’s Lifestyle which runs the city’s pools, said: “This new programme has been designed to help the overweight improve their overall fitness levels and lose weight in the privacy of a closed group session.”

Classes begin at the poll in Pegasus Road, on Thursday, October 7, and run for 12 weeks. Each class costs £1.20 and is open to all obese people referred by their doctor.

If people want to take part in the class they should ask for a referral letter from their doctor.

For more details call Blackbird Leys Swimming Pool on 0844 8933222.