Obesity: Health Services
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to conduct a review of NHS weight management services, including their eligibility criteria.
Answered by Mrs Sharon Hodgson
The National Health Service and local government provide a range of weight management services. Commissioning and funding decisions for obesity services are made locally. NHS integrated care boards, local authorities, and NHS England are expected to take National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance into account when designing services.
NICE guidance on overweight and obesity management sets out the core components, standards, and eligibility criteria for weight management programmes.
In this context, the Department has no current plans to review NHS weight management services, or their eligibility criteria. The Department and NHS England continue to provide national policy direction, including by providing commissioning guidance for local systems. We are committed to expanding access to obesity medicines and expanding the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme to support an additional 125,000 people over the next three years.
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