NHS blocking access to obesity services across England, BMJ finds

The NHS is restricting access to obesity services across England, leading to patients in almost half the country unable to make appointments with specialist groups for support and treatment such as weight loss jabs.

Research by the British Medical Journal found that funding cuts to local services had disproportionately reduced obesity care, and patients living with the condition were often considered less worthy of care than others.

The restrictions were equivalent to “average” NHS obesity services, one expert said, leading to a “lottery of postal care”.

One in six local health care patients were unable to access bariatric surgery, one of the most effective treatments for obesity, according to research, which examined responses to freedom of information requests from all 42 of England’s integrated care boards (ICBs).

Dr Nicola Heslehurst, professor of maternal and child nutrition at Newcastle University and chair of the UK Association for the Study of Obesity, told the BMJ that weight management services did not “meet the need”. any”, adding that the action is “radical”. it was necessary to avoid rising obesity and care costs, worsening inequality, and children being “prepared for a poor lifestyle”.

Obesity is estimated to cost the NHS in England £6.5bn a year and is the second biggest cause of cancer after smoking.

ICBs are funded by NHS England to provide healthcare services for their local residents, but budget cuts have left many under severe financial pressure. Given funding, services deemed less important may not receive funding, and obesity care is often the first to face the axe.

Over half (24) of care councils in England commissioned all types of weight loss services for adults and were open to new provisions. Services range from local groups on diet and lifestyle to weight-loss injections of semaglutide, marketed as Wegovy, and gastric bypass surgery.

More than a third of ICBs reported restrictions on triadic obesity services, where patients are seen by different groups that may prescribe weight loss drugs. Six said their services were closed to new patients, seven only covered part of the treatment area, and four did not have three services.

Four-stage services, including gastric bypass surgery and intensive weight management services, are restricted in many areas of England, research has found, with seven ICBs not offering surgery. bariatric.

John Wilding, professor of medicine at the University of Liverpool, told the BMJ that obesity services are “underrated”. “I think there’s an unconscious bias that says: ‘This is so much their fault, so they should just get on with it, diet and lose weight.’ But we know from genetics and other factors that it’s more complicated than that,” Wilding said.

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after the news release

The BMJ’s findings are in line with a recent report by research firm Future Health. It found that many NHS ICBs in England had yet to deliver detailed plans to tackle obesity and treat obesity, despite costing the UK an estimated £98bn per year in health costs, lost productivity and other costs.

Richard Slogett, the author of the report, and a former special adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care, said the new announcements showed that the NHS was “standard” for obesity treatment. “These findings support our Future of Health research which shows that many ICBs currently do not see obesity as a priority. In some parts of the country there is no access to obesity services. level 3 and 4 at all.

“This assignment leads to a lot of postal care. Given the scale of the obesity challenge facing the country and the extensive health and economic costs and consequences associated with it, there is an urgent need for government and the NHS to take new action. This should start with a clear timetable for reviewing NHS obesity services and ensuring that there are agreed minimum services in the ICB. each.”

A spokesperson for NHS England told the BMJ that the NHS is “working with the Department of Health to support the development of the obesity pathway”.