NSW Health has introduced a policy advising doctors to avoid terms like “obese” in case they might “offend or stigmatise”.

The new guidelines encourage practitioners avoid terms like “morbidly obese”, “skinny” and “malnourished” in favour of a “positive, sensitive and non-judgemental manner”.

The Executive Director of NSW Health’s Centre for Population Health, Jo Mitchell, said the organisation’s new stance was aimed at promoting better patient engagement, the Daily Telegraph reports .

“We know that when we raise it in this positive way that there’s a better impact,” she said.

“So not at all downplaying the seriousness of (weight problems). It’s just using language which is more engaging.”

Ms Mitchell added that doctors should not refer to patients as “fat” but rather as being “above a health weight range”.

Australian Medical Association state president Brad Frankum has slammed the move however as “patronising”.

“There is no recipe to talk to patients,” he told the Telegraph .

“Doctors are the best people to judge how to frame those discussions… Sometimes it is important not to sugar-coat this.

“People sometimes need to be made really aware of the dangers they are facing.”

Excess weight can lead to a number of health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, some cancers and Type 2 diabetes. (AAP)

Mr Frankum insisted the word “obese” was a medical term and that doctors should not shy from “confronting (patients) with the reality of their situation”.

An estimated 52.6 percent of NSW adults were classified as overweight or obese in 2011, NSW Health reports .

Almost a quarter of all children – 22.8 percent – were also deemed overweight or obese in 2011.