Reimagining Obesity Care: A Generational Opportunity to Improve Health and Reduce Inequality

• Nearly one in three adults in England are already living with obesity,^[i] and by 2040 more people will be affected by obesity than be a healthy weight.^[ii]
• Just 3% of adults living with obesity or who are overweight are referred for NHS support,^[iii] despite the condition costing the NHS £9.3bn a year.^[iv]

BASINGSTOKE, 17 April – Lilly UK has today published a new report setting out a bold vision for how obesity services in England can be modernised to better support people living with obesity, reduce health inequalities and improve population health outcomes.

The report, Delivering the moonshot: the future of obesity services, highlights that existing NHS support for people living with obesity is falling short. Just 3% of people living with

overweight or obesity received a suitable referral to tiered weight management services between 2007 and 2020.ⁱⁱⁱ For those who can actually access NHS services, only a small proportion have been shown to lose 5% or more of their weight as a result.^[v]

The Government knows this needs to change, with its 10 Year Health Plan launching a “moonshot to end the obesity epidemic”, including expanding access to weight management services. The report argues that services do not just need to be expanded – they must be modernised in order to help people live longer, healthier lives.

The report was informed by insights from Boots UK, Diabetes UK, Health Innovation Manchester, Nesta, NHS Confederation, Obesity UK, Our Future Health, Pharmacy2U, and Suffolk County Council shared at a roundtable following the Government’s publication of the 10-Year Health Plan. Editorial control of the report was held exclusively by Lilly.

The report also highlights the importance of early intervention, calling for people to receive support before obesity leads to additional complications. It argues that everyone who needs help should be able to access a comprehensive and holistic package of care, regardless of where they live.

Khalil Asmar, Vice President Cardiometabolic Health, Lilly Northern Europe commented, “We can see that the current approach to obesity care has not had success in reducing obesity prevalence. The NHS is spending over £9bn a year treating the consequences of obesity,^iv yet many people get no structured weight management support at all. Waiting until someone develops additional illnesses is failing patients as well as putting avoidable strain on the NHS. We must intervene earlier and treat obesity as the chronic condition that it is.”

Laura Rooney, Deputy CEO and Chief Strategy Officer at Health Innovation Manchester, noted, “If we want to tackle obesity and overweight effectively, we need to ensure people have access to a comprehensive, holistic and culturally appropriate package of support. The recommendations in the report bring some new ideas to how the system can shift towards prevention, better coordination, and care that truly works for people.”

The report’s 10 recommendations are grouped around foundations and the three shifts identified in the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan:

• Laying the foundations
• The refreshed NHS National Quality Board, working with the community, should publish a Modern Service Framework for obesity.
• The Government and the NHS should explore the role of financial incentives to reward the delivery of high-quality obesity services that offer improved outcomes and value for money.
• The NHS should publish comprehensive data on the performance of local obesity services and adopt a ‘test and learn’ approach to support rapid adoption of new models of care.
  
  
• The shift from sickness to prevention
• The NHS should embed early detection and intervention as a core element of modern obesity services across the life course.
• Medical schools and royal colleges, working with patient organisations, should strengthen the education they provide on obesity to reduce weight stigma.

• The shift from hospital to community
• The National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme should expand its current areas of focus to include supporting people living with obesity.
• The Government and the NHS should set out a clear role for pharmacy in supporting people living with obesity under the new Neighbourhood Health Service.
• The NHS should explore new ways of organising the workforce to ensure people living with obesity receive co-ordinated, multidisciplinary care.
  
  
• The shift from analogue to digital
• The Government and NHS should empower people to use digital tools, such as the NHS App, to support self-referral into obesity services and long-term self-management.
• The NHS should monitor the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of existing digital programmes and ensure timely, equitable rollout of future innovations – while safeguarding access to in-person care where preferred or required. 

The full report can be downloaded online here.

[i] NHS England. Available at https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2024 [Accessed April 2026]

[ii] Iacobucci G. BMJ. 2022;377(1265). doi: 10.1136/bmj.o1265

[iii] Coulman KD, et al. PLoS Med. 2023;20(9):e1004282

[iv] Nesta and Frontier Economics. 2025. Available at: https://media.nesta.org.uk/documents/The_economic_and_productivity_costs_of_obesity_and_overweight_in_the_UK_.pdf [Accessed April 2026]

[v] Office for Health Improvement & Disparities. 2023. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/adult-tier-2-weight-management-services-final-data-for-april-2021-to-december-2022/adult-tier-2-weight-management-services-short-statistical-commentary-september-2023 [Accessed April 2026]