Benefits to the NHS

Meeting all National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) obesity guideline recommendations for partnerships and those developed by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), the benefits to the NHS include:

Achieve your targets

Your targets for weight management can be met through Slimming World on Referral. Currently, the NHS measures the success of drug intervention for weight loss by percentage weight loss over time. A successful intervention would produce a 5% weight loss over a 3 month period (10% over 6 months). The Feasibility Trial for Slimming World on Referral shows an average 6.4% weight loss after 3 months. After 6 months, average loss was 11.3%.

None of this has come as a surprise to Slimming World. In a recent study of 5,000 Slimming World members, results showed that on average, slimmers achieved a 10% weight loss in just 13 weeks, irrespective of their starting weight, and that 3 months later, over 90% of those who still attended a group had maintained their loss or gone on to lose even more.

Build an audit

Slimming World on Referral provides an evidence base of patient attendance and weight loss. Health professionals participating in the Slimming World on Referral scheme will receive regular audits free of charge from Slimming World.

Gain time

Slimming World on Referral should help you see less of your patients in every sense. In the long term, the health benefits of weight loss make such a difference in the lives of group members that they should be less frequent visitors to your practice.

Long-term financial benefits

Referred patients benefit from noticeable improvements in health and wellbeing. Many Slimming World members report that they require less medication, including anti-hypertensive medication and diabetes treatment, and some no longer require any medication at all once they have lost weight successfully.

A highly cost-effective alternative

Slimming World on Referral offers a subsidised package at £55.68 per patient, which includes joining fee and 12 weeks’ attendance (offering a saving to the NHS of £14.90 on the normal cost). The costs of current obesity therapy options, such as drug treatment, are far higher with the average cost of 12 weeks’ prescription of orlistat around £123; for sibutramine the cost is around £112, depending on dosage.

Support for your team

Slimming World on Referral fulfils your needs as a health professional in striving to deliver a healthy weight management plan to your patients. Slimming World on Referral provides training in effective service co-ordination to participating health care teams and Slimming World Consultants, which in turn enhances patient commitment to the programme. Slimming World training provided for Consultants to run their groups is ongoing and advanced.

With 40 years’ research and practical experience to draw on, the Slimming World approach is based on a deep insight into the problems and treatment of overweight, and represents the very best practice in group support and behaviour modification