Obesity is considered to be one of the major challenges facing the NHS both today and into the future, resulting in individuals living shorter lives with poorer quality of life, and requiring more healthcare.
Weight loss services are often described as being part of a four-tiered system, with the fourth tier being very invasive and expensive surgeries such as bariatric surgery. The aim of the third tier of services is to provide individuals who are eligible for bariatric surgery an intensive set of personalised classes, including exercise, education and mental health support, to try to reduce the number that go on to need surgery.
Working closely with the commissioners of weight loss services in York we evaluated their tier three programme, helping them to understand the cost and health implications associated with the support they were providing.
