Evaluation of models of care to provide national access to anti-obesity medication in England

We are trying to understand how new ways of providing weight management services can be best delivered outside of hospital settings so that more people can benefit from weight management medication and support. One third of UK adults live with obesity. A new weight management medication, called semaglutide (Wegovy), has been approved for use in the UK, within specialist weight management services. These are often run in hospitals and there are not enough of them across the country for everyone who needs one. NHS England is testing out new ways of delivering these weight management services outside of hospitals so that more people can benefit from semaglutide and weight management support. These might include weight management services delivered remotely (including the use of apps) and prescribing through GP practices. These new ways of delivering weight management services and semaglutide are going to be tested first in a few areas of the country. It’s important that we understand how well these test services work, and what people think of them. This is so NHS England can make adjustments to the services and the wider rollout. We will talk to people who have used the new weight management services. We will ask about their experiences including the quality of the support they received alongside semaglutide treatment, and their ideas on how things could be improved. We will also speak to people who dropped out of the programmes to understand what could have been improved. We will measure people’s weight, quality of life, and other changes to their daily life, as well as any side-effects that might result from the medication so we can compare how well each type of service works for people. We will also survey and interview health professionals to understand their views and experiences of service delivery.