Backed by up to £85 million from the government and pharmaceutical major Eli Lilly, the government is looking for new ways to access support to tackle obesity. 

Backed by up to £85 million from the government and pharmaceutical major Eli Lilly, a new health innovation programme aims to make it easier for patients living with obesity to access holistic care to improve their health.

It is the result of the collaboration which was agreed between the government and Eli Lilly at the International Investment Summit in October last year, and the programme will be open to proposals from across the UK. In participating areas, eligible patients could access innovative services as early as summer next year.

“New ways of accessing support to tackle obesity, such as through pharmacies or with help from digital tools, could be transformational for people’s quality of life, and for society – allowing individuals to more easily manage their weight and freeing them from ill-health that holds them back in daily life – while reducing the strain on our NHS,” said science and technology secretary Peter Kyle. 

The government pointed out that the cost of supporting patients living with obesity is £11 billion a year.

“This is part of the government’s mission, outlined in the 10 Year Health Plan, to transform the UK healthcare system from a predominantly curative system that prioritises disease treatment to a preventative model, characterised by early interventions,” said Carly Caton, partner at Browne Jacobson and who advised the Office for Life Sciences within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on legal agreements for the programme. 

Living with obesity 

Healthcare stakeholders across the NHS, such as care boards, working with technology providers, will be invited to submit bids to pilot innovative models of care for people living with obesity, outside of existing specialist weight management services, to increase capacity.

The programme, which will be delivered together with Innovate UK, will provide patients living with obesity with new ways to access comprehensive holistic weight management support, including a range of wraparound services, and potentially obesity treatments, or support by digital tools.

As Kevin Joshua, clinical lead at Juniper, pointed out earlier this month, the NHS’s recent GP rollout of Mounjaro is a pivotal moment, but it needs to be supported by more than medication alone. “Both patients and clinicians are ready to adopt more hybrid health approaches, paving the way for a multi-pathway approach using digital innovation,” he wrote. 

The UK government will contribute up to £50 million of new UK-wide investment, and Eli Lilly will contribute up to £35 million of grant funding, with NHS organisations able to come up with proposals and apply for a share of the funding. At least £10 million of this funding is earmarked for proposals in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.