Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of patients identified by their general practitioner as being obese have (a) received follow-up advice on how to lose or manage their weight and (b) succeeded in losing weight and maintaining their weight loss in the last 12 months.

The existing obesity related Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) indicator supports general practitioner’s to identify patients who are overweight or obese. There are, however, no routinely required assessments of the number of people who have received follow up advice, lost weight or maintained weight loss over 12 months.

Local authorities, working with local and national partners across the health and social care system, have responsibility for public health and the assessment and provision of preventative weight management services. Public Health England (PHE) works closely with local authorities to ensure access to services and outcomes are recorded, though this is not routinely reported back to a national database.

PHE is responding to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence consultation on the QOF and Clinical Commissioning Group Outcome Indicators to highlight improvements to the system that support intervention and follow up support for patients identified as overweight and obese.