Early outcomes of referrals to the English National Health Service Digital Weight Management Programme
Open accessAbstract
Objective: The study objective was to assess participant weight change for the English National Health Service (NHS) Digital Weight Management Programme, the first such digital intervention to achieve population coverage. Methods: A service evaluation was used to assess intervention effectiveness for adults with obesity and a diagnosis of hypertension and/or diabetes, between April 2021 and March 2022, using prospectively collected, national service–level data in England. Results: Of the 63,937 referrals made from general practices, within the time period, 31,861 (50%) chose to take up the 12‐week Programme. There were 31,718 participants who had time to finish the Programme; of those, 14,268 completed the Programme (defined as attending ≥60%), a 45% completion rate. The mean weight change for those who had time to finish the Programme was −2.2 kg (95% CI: −2.25 to −2.16), for those who completed it was −3.9 kg (95% CI: −3.99 to −3.84), and for those who had time to finish the Programme but did not complete it was −0.74 kg (95% CI: −0.79 to −0.70). Conclusions: The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme is effective at achieving clinically meaningful weight loss. The outcomes compare favorably to web‐based weight management interventions tested in randomized trials and those delivered as face‐to‐face interventions, and results suggest that the approach may, with increased participation, bring population‐level benefits.
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Data from the English National Health Service Digital Weight Management Programme has shown that greater support provided to more deprived communities equalized weight loss outcomes.
“On the other hand, data from the English National Health Service Digital Weight Management Programme has shown that greater support provided to more deprived communities equalized weight loss outcomes.113”
From The societal implications of using glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists for the treatment of obesity (2025) · cites this paper as [113]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Taylor, K., Indulkar, T., Thompson, B., Pinkard, C., Barron, E., Frost, T., Jayawardane, P., Davies, N., Bakhai, C., Forouhi, N. G., Aveyard, P., Jebb, S., & Valabhji, J.
- Affiliations
- NHS England (GB)
- Digital Innovation Unit NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit Stoke on Trent UK
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Indulkar, Tejal
- ORCID
- Venue
- Obesity
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2024-04-21
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1083-1092
- ISSN
- 1930-7381 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-739X
- OpenAlex
- W4395007692
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 5
- FWCI
- 15.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Obesity (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
- Keywords
- weight loss, digital health interventions, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, general practitioner referral, program completion, National Health Service
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Diabetes Mellitus, England, Female, Humans, Hypertension, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Prospective Studies, Referral and Consultation, State Medicine, Program Evaluation, Weight Loss, Weight Reduction Programs
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