GP/HCP Information

Eligibility criteria

  • The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme is offered to adults with a diagnosis of diabetes (Type 2 or Type 1) or hypertension or both with a BMI of 30+ kg/m2 (adjusted to ≥27.5 for ethnicity).
  • An individual who meets any one or more of the following exclusion criteria is not eligible to access the service:
    • Is pregnant
    • Has an active eating disorder
    • People for whom a weight management programme is considered to pose greater risk of harm than benefit
    • Has had bariatric surgery in the last two years
  • The programme will only be accessible to those who have a smartphone or computer with internet access. However, people living with obesity will continue to be able to access Local Authority commissioned weight management services where the new digital services offered do not meet their needs.

Referral process

  • The identification and referral of users to the new services will be dependent on the support of those working in General Practice.
  • The service has been working with the Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit to create electronic referral forms which can be uploaded into practice system e.g. EMIS, SystemOne and Vision.
  • Practices who would like to start referring into the NHS Digital Weight Management programme will find all the necessary materials (clinical templates for all practice IT systems, instructions on how to identify the programme in the e-referral system and general guidance for practices and service users) available to download from the NHSEI website (you’ll need your practice ODS code for access).
  • If the user is eligible, the General Practice team can refer the user into the programme. The user will then be given access via a text to an NHS England & Improvement commissioned front-end ‘Referral Hub’, which will triage service users to one of three levels of intervention based on the risk of non-completion of the programme.
  • Once triaged, the service user will select their preferred provider to deliver the level of intervention that they require. The system will then link to the chosen provider and pass across key information to enable the service user to register for the 12-week programme.

How the programme works for the service user