Urgent need to prioritise people living with obesity
Slimming World, the largest weight management organisation in the United Kingdom and Ireland, has written to Wes Streeting MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to lend its support to the Minister’s commitment to rebuild the NHS.
Responding to the Health Secretary's comments that the NHS is broken, Slimming World has highlighted the millions of people, and their families, living with obesity who have suffered from many years of indecision and policy changes.
We do not underestimate the challenges facing the new government as it works to improve treatment options and outcomes – and at the same time achieve economic stability – but failing to support people living with obesity is a false economy.
Since the general election in 2019, obesity policy in the UK has been subject to numerous U-turns, resulting in no coherent or clear strategy to tackle a growing public health problem that is now estimated to cost the UK £98bn a year.
The financial burden of obesity-related health conditions on our healthcare system is immense. By 2050, it is predicted that the number of adults in the UK who are living with obesity will rise by 73 per cent to 26m people. As well as the emotional difficulties experienced by people living with obesity, this public health crisis is linked to many serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, strokes and several types of cancers.
Despite its prevalence and serious implications, obesity has not received the attention and resources it warrants within our healthcare system or, in recent years, the priority it needs from our government.
It would be very easy to believe that a new generation of GLP-1 weight loss medications is the holy grail and the panacea that will solve the obesity crisis. While these drugs are a significant innovation, and undoubtedly are changing the obesity landscape, they are not a magic bullet and come with associated concerns and serious side effects. The UK needs an ambitious and far-reaching obesity strategy that recognises that the way to lose weight, and keep it off in the long term, is for people to be given expert personalised support to make sustainable healthy changes to what they eat and drink and to become more active.
Slimming World’s philosophy is based on a deep understanding of how people who are living with overweight and obesity feel, coupled with a passionate desire to help them achieve their goals. For 55 years, its programme has been developed and refined in line with the latest evidence on nutrition, exercise and the psychology of behaviour change, and its innovative digital programme has been designed to support members using the latest technology. Through our 18,500 community groups, Slimming World successfully supports hundreds of thousands of people each week to eat more healthily and adopt a more active lifestyle for the long term.
The healthy influence of Slimming World stretches right across families, too, with 75 per cent of members reporting that they have influenced their family and friends to make healthier food choices, while 63 per cent report eating more healthily as a family and many report involving their family in activity.
Slimming World welcomes the Health Secretary’s commitment to the role of technology in delivering excellence in health services. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we were quickly able to adapt Slimming World’s digital service and support the then government’s Better Health programme, with over 27,000 adults receiving support within the first six months and participants losing an average of 3 per cent of their body weight in 12 months, with many going on to self-fund their membership.
We’ve worked in partnership with the NHS since 2001 when we pioneered ‘slimming on referral’, and when NHS Digital launched its own programme for healthcare professionals to refer eligible patients for weight-loss support, Slimming World was chosen as a provider. The programme has now been running for three years with over 25,000 referrals activated. Recently published research in the journal Obesity has shown this is an effective and successful way to reach people with a weight management service.
Technology has played a significant role in Slimming World’s weight loss service for more than 20 years as part of our group and online membership packages, but we believe that it can only go so far in helping people make sustainable changes to their lifestyle. Our evidence shows that what makes a stronger, lasting difference is real, social connection – the power of expert guidance and peer-to-peer support, personal accountability, care, friendship and encouragement.
Slimming World has the experience, expertise and unique infrastructure of groups in the heart of every community that can help the government deliver life-changing support in a cost-effective way. Importantly, our data shows that members come from across all socioeconomic backgrounds, demonstrating that deprivation is not a major barrier to attendance.
The pressure that obesity puts on the economy and NHS needs everyone – health professionals, politicians, policymakers, industry and the NHS – to pledge to work together on a practical, effective strategy that recognises one size doesn’t fit all, and we are committed to play our part.
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