Meet people where they actually are, using technology and local infrastructure.
Across the United Kingdom, nearly one in three adults carries the weight of obesity—a condition that costs society more than it can easily bear, and that has long fallen hardest on those least equipped to seek help. This week, a £85 million partnership between government and pharmaceutical industry set twelve projects in motion across all four nations, each one an experiment in whether technology, language, and proximity can do what clinic waiting lists have not. The initiative is less a medical breakthrough than a logistical reckoning: the treatments exist, but the paths to them have been closed to millions, and these projects are an attempt to open new ones.
- One in three UK adults lives with obesity, yet the communities most affected—deprived, rural, minority ethnic—face the steepest barriers to care, creating a crisis of access as much as of health.
- Twelve projects launching across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will test whether AI triage, WhatsApp health coaches, neighbourhood pharmacy hubs, and self-referral can reach people the traditional system has consistently failed.
- The urgency is financial as well as human: obesity costs UK society an estimated £107 billion annually, with the NHS alone spending over £9 billion on related treatment, making inaction increasingly untenable.
- Projects are deliberately designed around underserved populations—offering multilingual support in over eighteen languages, round-the-clock digital access, and routes that bypass GP waiting lists entirely.
- Running until March 2029, the programme will generate evidence intended to reshape national NHS obesity services, with successful models earmarked for rollout across the country.
Nearly one in three adults across the UK lives with obesity—a reality that sits behind a new £85 million investment, split between government and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, to fundamentally rethink how weight management care is delivered. Twelve projects, spread across all four nations, will test radically different ways of reaching the people who have historically struggled most to access help.
The Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme is built on a clear-eyed observation: those who need care most are often the hardest to reach. People in deprived areas, rural communities, ethnic minority populations, those with disabilities, pregnant women, families with young children—these groups have long fallen through gaps in the system. The projects are designed to meet them where they are, using technology and local infrastructure to remove the friction that has kept millions from getting support.
In Kent and Medway, up to 3,300 families will access AI-powered health guidance via WhatsApp, available around the clock in more than twenty languages and by voice note for those who struggle with reading. In Norfolk, Suffolk, and northeast Essex, roughly 85,000 patients will be matched to the right level of care through AI-assisted triage—a short online health check that routes them to a dietitian, a behavioural programme, or specialist clinical care. In Leicester and Northamptonshire, neighbourhood hubs will open in pharmacies and gyms, with targeted outreach to deprived and minority communities. In Birmingham and the Black Country, the BRIDGE project offers referral in over eighteen languages, built around people with serious mental illness, those awaiting surgery, and young people with severe obesity. Wales will launch its first fully integrated national obesity pathway, bilingual and digitally accessible. Northern Ireland will allow self-referral, bypassing the GP appointment entirely.
The scale of the problem is substantial. Obesity costs UK society an estimated £107 billion per year, with the NHS spending more than £9 billion annually on related care. Yet access to effective interventions remains severely limited, particularly for the communities these projects are targeting. The initiatives will run until March 2029, generating evidence about what works, with successful models intended for national rollout.
What distinguishes these twelve projects is their focus on innovation in delivery rather than treatment. The medications and dietary guidance already exist. What is being tested is whether AI can match people to care faster, whether WhatsApp can reach a parent at midnight, whether a pharmacy hub can serve someone who would never reach a hospital clinic, whether self-referral can eliminate the gatekeeping that has kept millions waiting. For the next three years, the country will be watching whether technology and proximity can finally close the gap between those who need obesity care and those who can actually get it.
Nearly one in three adults across the UK are living with obesity. That statistic—roughly three million people—sits behind a new £85 million investment announced this week, split between government funding and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, to reshape how the country delivers weight management care. Twelve projects, spread across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, will begin testing radically different approaches to reaching people who have struggled to access help: through WhatsApp at three in the morning, through apps on their phones, through pharmacies on their high street, through self-referral that bypasses the GP waiting list entirely.
The Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme, as it's formally called, is built on a simple observation: the people who need obesity care most are often the hardest to reach. Those living in deprived areas, rural communities where travel to specialist clinics means hours away from home, ethnic minority populations, people with disabilities, pregnant women, families with young children—these groups have historically fallen through gaps in the system. The twelve projects are designed to meet them where they actually are, using technology and local infrastructure to remove the friction that has kept them from getting help.
In Kent and Medway, up to 3,300 families from pregnancy through early childhood will have access to AI-powered health guidance delivered via WhatsApp, available round the clock in more than twenty languages and by voice note for those who struggle with reading. A parent worried about feeding a toddler at midnight, or unsure whether their child's weight is a concern, can type a question and get an answer instantly without booking a GP appointment. For those needing deeper support, an AI health coach will check in regularly and help set personal goals. In Norfolk, Suffolk, and northeast Essex, roughly 85,000 patients will be matched to the right level of care through AI-assisted triage—a short online health check from home that routes them to a dietitian, a behavioural support programme, or specialist clinical care depending on what they actually need.
The projects are deliberately targeting the communities that have been left behind. In Leicester and Northamptonshire, six neighbourhood hubs will open in community pharmacies and gyms, with particular outreach to deprived, Black, South Asian, and rural communities. In Birmingham, Solihull, and the Black Country, the BRIDGE project offers referral in over eighteen languages and is built around people with serious mental health conditions, those waiting for surgery, and young people living with severe obesity—groups for whom weight management has been nearly impossible to access. In Wales, the country's first fully integrated national obesity care pathway will operate bilingually, in English and Welsh, with a single digital entry point. Northern Ireland will allow people to refer themselves directly, sidestepping the GP appointment wait entirely.
The scale of the problem these projects are trying to solve is substantial. Obesity costs UK society an estimated £107 billion per year, with the NHS spending more than £9 billion annually on related care. One in four adults in Wales live with obesity; nearly one in three in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Yet access to effective interventions—specialist advice, guided physical activity, weight loss medication—remains severely limited, particularly for those in the communities the programme is targeting. The projects will run until March 2029, generating evidence about what works and what doesn't, with the intention that successful models will be rolled out nationally.
Science Secretary Liz Kendall framed the initiative as part of a broader shift in how the government approaches obesity as a public health challenge. Beyond these twelve projects, the government is restricting junk food advertising before 9 p.m. on television and at all times online, giving local authorities power to prevent fast food shops opening near schools, consulting on banning high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s, and extending free school meals to every child in a household receiving Universal Credit. The Soft Drinks Industry Levy will expand in January 2028 to cover pre-packed milk-based drinks, building on a policy that has already cut average sugar content in soft drinks by 47 percent between 2015 and 2024. Large food businesses will be required to report standardised metrics on healthier food sales, bringing transparency to what the country is actually buying and eating.
What distinguishes these twelve projects is their focus on innovation in delivery rather than innovation in treatment. The medications and dietary advice already exist. What's being tested is whether AI can match people to the right care faster, whether WhatsApp can reach mothers at night, whether neighbourhood hubs in pharmacies can serve people who would never make it to a hospital clinic, whether self-referral can eliminate the gatekeeping that has kept millions waiting. The Health Innovation Network will coordinate learning across all twelve sites, ensuring that what works in Kent informs what happens in Lanarkshire, and that successful strategies can be scaled. For the next three years, the country will be watching whether technology and proximity can finally close the gap between those who need obesity care and those who can actually access it.
Notable Quotes
These pioneering projects will meet people where they are—whether that is through a pharmacy round the corner, an app on their phone, or support in their own language.— Science Secretary Liz Kendall
Obesity is an epidemic and we need bold action to end it now. These innovative projects will bring together the NHS, local partners and industry to test new ways of delivering obesity care that uses the latest technology and is closer to people's homes.— Health and Social Care Secretary James Murray
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does obesity care need to be reinvented now? Hasn't the NHS been treating obesity for years?
It has, but only for a fraction of the people who need it. The system was built around clinic appointments and GP referrals—things that work fine if you live near a hospital and have time to wait. But if you're a single parent in a deprived area, or you live in rural Norfolk and the nearest specialist is two hours away, or you're pregnant and ashamed to ask your GP, the system doesn't reach you. These projects are testing whether you can flip that around—meet people where they already are.
The WhatsApp service in Kent sounds almost too simple. How does an AI actually help someone lose weight through text messages?
It's not about the AI doing the work—it's about removing the barrier to asking for help. A parent at midnight with a question about their toddler's eating doesn't need a therapist. They need an answer now, in plain language, without judgment. The AI can do that instantly. For people who need more, there's a health coach. But the first step is just making it possible to ask.
These projects focus heavily on underserved communities. Is that because obesity is worse in those populations, or because they've been neglected?
Both, but it's complicated. Obesity is more common in deprived areas, but that's not because of individual choices—it's because of what's available, what's affordable, what's safe to do outside. And yes, those communities have been neglected by a system that assumes everyone can get to a clinic. These projects are saying: if you want to actually move the needle on obesity, you have to start where the need is greatest and the access is worst.
What happens after March 2029 when these projects end?
That's the whole point. They're generating evidence about what works. If the WhatsApp service in Kent reaches people who would never have sought help otherwise, that model gets scaled nationally. If the neighbourhood hubs in pharmacies work better than clinic appointments, that becomes the standard. The projects are pilots, but they're pilots with real stakes—millions of people waiting to see if the NHS can finally meet them halfway.
The government is also restricting advertising and banning energy drinks. How do these projects fit into that bigger picture?
They're two sides of the same coin. The restrictions try to prevent obesity from developing in the first place. These projects help people who are already living with it get support. You need both. But what's interesting is that the projects are also about prevention—they're catching people early, before complications develop, before someone needs a knee operation or develops diabetes. That's the shift the NHS is trying to make: from treating disease to preventing it.