UHNM Digital Weight Management Programme refers over 200 patients

More than 200 patients from University Hospitals of North Midlands are benefiting from online support to help manage their weight and encourage better activity levels.

211 patients have been referred to the UHNM Digital Weight Management Programme, designed to support people currently waiting for surgery, since the launch of the pilot in June 2023.

The 12 week digital programme provides free, online access to a range of weight management plans to choose from. Each plan offers advice and support to encourage healthy habits, along with recipes and nutrition advice, wellbeing support and tips to boost activity levels.

Patients will be referred if they are over 18 years old, have a BMI of over 30 or 27.5 for people from black, asian and ethnic minority backgrounds and be on an elective waitlist to meet the eligibility criteria to be able to access the programme.

Dr Hinesh Patel, consultant anaesthetist and clinical lead for adult pre-ams said: “It has been a pleasure to collaborate with NHS England, UHNM IM&T, Information Governance, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care System (ICS) and the wider team as part of the NHSE: Digital Weight Management Programme for Elective Care Pilot, to create an automated method to identify eligible patients for our surgical waiting lists.

“The programme provides support to our patients to help with weight loss prior to elective surgery undergoing particular procedures as part of the pilot.  I would like to thank everyone involved for their stupendous efforts in its rapid development and implementation.”

Andrew Fraser, UHNM business intelligence manager said: “UHNM has great staff and talents and when working together we can create amazing work. UHNM is one of a handful of Trusts involved in the NHSE Weight Management pilot and is the only Trust with an automated approach.  The automation of these referrals is working brilliantly with minimal staff overheads.  Furthermore, UHNM is ranking first in the pilot for referral count to the service.”

To enrol for this programme, patients need to be actively waiting on surgery for specific procedures and must be registered for Patients Know Best (PKB).  If this criteria is met and if the patients BMI is qualifying they will be sent a simple questionnaire to complete. To register for PKB please visit - https://www.uhnm.nhs.uk/pkb