The Obesity Health Alliance, which represents 60 leading health charities, medical royal colleges and campaign groups including the British Liver Trust, has launched a new position statement laying out clear and robust recommendations to begin to address and improve the delivery of effective overweight and obesity management services in England.
The Alliance’s vision is for a fully resourced system that delivers equitable access to appropriate, tailored and sustained support services to people living with overweight and obesity. This means guaranteeing a consistent, equitable and evidence-informed treatment pathway based on individual needs, providing appropriate person-centred support for all, in a non-stigmatising way.
In the report, the Obesity Health Alliance is urging the government to take immediate action by implementing the following measures:
- Conduct a full review of existing NHS obesity services to identify current challenges and present an economic case for expanding access to treatment.
- Introduce urgent NHS interventions to help clinicians prioritise access to weight-loss drugs, as demand continues to surge.
- Ensure every Integrated Care System (ICS) provides comprehensive obesity treatment services, eliminating the current “postcode lottery”.
- Develop new weight-loss support strategies tailored to groups that are traditionally underrepresented in existing services, including older men and individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds.
As part of the Alliance, the British Liver Trust will be supporting these policy calls in its policy and Public Affairs work.
Obesity and overweight are one of the most significant public health challenges we face as a nation. Two-thirds of adults in the UK are overweight or obese. Fatty liver disease or metabolic dysfunction-associated liver disease (MASLD) is increasingly affecting adults and children – with childhood obesity rates growing at the fastest pace ever recorded. Treatments to support people to reach and maintain a healthy weight can be positively life changing. There is huge potential for these services to improve people’s health, prevent the development of serious health conditions, reduce devastating health inequalities and represent long-term savings to the health system
Director of Communications and Policy at the British Liver Trust, Vanessa Hebditch, said: “We are delighted to support the Obesity Health Alliance’s new position statement on the treatment of overweight and obesity and their robust and considered policy recommendations.
“We face an overweight and obesity public health crisis. It impacts individuals’ health and quality of life, impacts their ability to work and places significant downstream pressures and costs our NHS.
“The announcement of new weight loss treatments is welcome. However, if we are to effectively address obesity, we need to adopt a more holistic approach.
“A central part of their recommendations is to recognise the obesogenic environment we live in and the need to reduce the huge levels of foods high in fat, salt and sugar in our food system – prevention is always better than cure.”
The Department of Health and Social Care estimate obesity costs the NHS more than £11bn a year. Obesity more widely is estimated to cost the UK economy £85bn per year, impacting our competitiveness and labour market and is central to the Government’s objective to get people back into work.
Fatty liver disease (MASLD metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease) and excess weight significantly increase the risk of premature death due to heart disease and liver, colon, breast, prostate, lung and pancreatic cancers.
Obesity rates are almost twice as high in the most deprived areas in England. Overweight and obesity prevalence is highest in disadvantaged groups with evidence of stark inequalities in obesity related ill health across ages, geographical areas, genders, ethnic groups and for those with both mental and physical disabilities.
One in four children with obesity are estimated to have fatty liver disease. Children living in the most deprived parts of England are substantially more likely to be obese. Childhood obesity rates are growing at the fastest pace ever recorded – and are more than twice as high in the most deprived (33.8%) versus the least deprived areas (14.3%). Children with obesity are five times more likely to remain obese into adulthood.
Treatments to support people to reach and maintain a healthy weight can be positively life-changing. For many people, these treatments can radically improve people’s quality of life and support people returning to or staying in the workforce. However, these services have faced serious long-term issues. These include chronic funding and workforce challenges, unequal access to services across the country and a disjointed patient pathway that makes it difficult for people to get the patient-centred care that they vitally need.