Implementation of NICE guidelines on Obesity

Principal Investigator: Professor Richard Baker

Other key staff: Mr Paul Sinfield, Dr Fenglin Guo, Mr Jamie Barrett, Mrs Stephanie Dunkley, Dr Monica Lakhanpaul, Dr David Shepherd and Mr Stephen Gunther, Mrs Lorraine Pollard

Partners involved: NHS Leicester City, NHS Leicestershire County and Rutland, NHS Northamptonshire and the University of Leicester

Summary: There has been a rapid increase in the prevalence of obesity in all age groups nationally, so that almost two-thirds of adults and one-third of children are now overweight or obese.

This project will take place in 10 general practices across the three Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in Leicestershire Northamptonshire and Rutland (LNR). Patient data will be collected to establish a baseline for the adherence to NICE guidelines in the management of obesity.  Interviews will then be conducted with patients and practitioners (GPs and Practice Nurses) to identify their views about the barriers and enablers to the implementation of NICE guidelines on obesity. A map will be constructed of services that offer obesity management, including voluntary and community providers, as well as services within each practice, and specialist services. A tailoring approach will be adopted to encourage greater use of the NICE guidelines which will consist of feedback to practices of their performance along with the findings of the patient and practitioner interviews. After six months a second data collection will be undertaken to identify and measure any changes in practices’ management of obesity so that the effectiveness of the intervention may be assessed.

Aims:

• To develop and pilot a method for identifying and tackling the barriers to (and enablers) of implementation of the NICE guidelines on obesity in primary health care
• To provide LNR PCTs with a practical approach for implementation of the NICE obesity guidelines

Further information: If you would like to be involved in this study, or for more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Start date: 09/2009                                                                                                         Expected end date: 03/2011

Project outcomes:

• It is hoped that this project will assist in understanding how implementation can be made more consistently effective. Practices and PCTs will also benefit, receiving a package to help in implementing the NICE guideline on obesity. The package will include the indicators, a tool to download practice data electronically to inform practices of their own performance, and the intervention. 

As part of this project a new online e-learning resource on obesity management is now available. It is aimed at individuals working within primary health care (general practitioners, practice nurses), with a focus on those aspects of the NICE Obesity guidelines that are particularly relevant to their work. The content of the resource has been designed to reflect local services in LNR with links to relevant resources.

The modules in the e-learning resource cover the following areas:

• Assessment of Obesity
• Non Pharmacological Treatment
• Pharmacological Management

On completion of the online e-learning modules a certificate is available and the developers estimate that the learning is equal to 2 CPD points (to be confirmed).

Click to access the online e-learning resource now.