Weight management

Transcript

Welcome to the Weight Management page. In terms of public health, obesity is a growing concern. Not only does it have psychological effects on the individual but increases risk of conditions such as type 2 diabetes and some cancers. The pharmacy team has an important role to play in raising awareness of the risks of being overweight and supporting people on their weight loss journey through advice and weight management services. The resources here will develop your understanding of the management of obesity and help you consider how to initiate those difficult discussions around weight and assessing a person’s motivation to lose weight. If you currently deliver or plan to deliver, a weight management service in the community you will find all the recommended learning here to complete your Declaration of Competence. This is such an important area of practice which the whole pharmacy team can be involved in. Access the resources here to find out how you can support people in the best way.

This e-learning programme will help improve your knowledge about the prevalence of obesity, the structure of weight management services in England and the structure and requirements of a tier two commissioned lifestyle weight management service.

It provides you with practical advice on how you can support patients on their own weight loss journey, including how to initiate the difficult discussion around weight management.

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of all aspects of this learning programme you should be able to:

• outline the epidemiology of obesity
• use appropriate equipment and techniques to measure and categorise a person's degree of overweight or obesity
• describe the determinants and health risks of being overweight or obese and the benefits of maintaining a healthy weight
• assess a person's readiness to lose weight and willingness to modify behaviour to achieve and maintain an appropriate target weight
• describe a range of motivational and behavioural techniques to support weight management
• discuss the role of diet, physical activity, medicines and surgery in the management of weight and provide practical healthy lifestyle advice
• select the most appropriate intervention or referral pathway to other primary/secondary care specialist services where necessary, in line with local and national weight management strategies
• describe and implement a community pharmacy weight management service.

This is a video-based programme where you will watch experts demonstrating the key phrases, skills and techniques for a person-centred approach to consultations. The interactive activities will help you apply your learning to practice and make best use of the time during a consultation. You will also be able to explain the concept of clinical empathy and how to demonstrate this in practice.

Learning Outcomes:

• apply key phrases to facilitate a patient-centred approach to your consultation
• demonstrate appropriate skills and behaviours to ensure the best use of time in the consultation
• explain the concept of clinical empathy and how it can be demonstrated
• rate consultation skills and techniques more confidently in preparation for the Consultation skills for pharmacy practice assessment.

This guideline covers the prevention and management of overweight, obesity and central adiposity in children, young people and adults. It brings together and updates all NICE's previous guidelines on overweight and obesity. It does not cover pregnancy.

Published: 14 January 2025

Tools to signpost people to, to support them with weight loss.

The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme supports adults living with obesity who also have a diagnosis of diabetes, hypertension or both, to manage their weight and improve their health.

Pharmacy professionals may be drawn into or have to initiate various difficult discussions. This e-learning programme builds on CPPE’s basic communication and consultation skills learning programmes to help staff undertake more difficult discussions with patients and others.

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of all aspects of this learning programme you should be able to:

• idenitfy examples of discussions that are difficult for both you and your patients or service users
• reflect on how your own values, attitudes and beliefs affect how you deal with dicussions you find difficult
• describe how developing your resilience can support you in dealing with difficult discussions
• identify barriers to effective communication in difficult discussions and find strategies to make this easier
• undertake difficult discussions with patients and service users using relevant consultation skills models.

The 10 Year Health Plan for England seizes the opportunities provided by new technologies, medicines, and innovations to deliver better care for all patients – wherever they live and whatever they earn – and better value for taxpayers.

It is making 3 big shifts to how the NHS works:

- from hospital to community: more care will be available on people’s doorsteps and in their homes

- from analogue to digital: new technology will liberate staff from admin and allow people to manage their care as easily as they bank or shop online

- from sickness to prevention: we’ll reach patients earlier and make the healthy choice the easy choice

Published July 2025.