Specialist weight management service

What is obesity?

Obesity is the medical term for having too much fat stored in your body for good health. Obesity is a complex health condition and it is a risk factor for several chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

There are over 100 different factors that can contribute to weight gain/obesity. Research tells us that most people believe that obesity is caused by factors within a person’s control, focusing on diet and exercise. However, it is very important to understand that many of the factors contributing to weight gain/obesity are completely outside a person’s control. There is always a lack of recognition of social and environmental determinants.

How do we meaure obesity?

A crude measure of obesity is the body mass index (BMI), which is measured by calculating a person’s weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of his or her height (in metres). A person with a BMI of 30kg/m2 or more is generally considered to be living with obesity.

If you would like to calculate your own BMI please go to the following link on the British Heart Foundation website (opens in a new tab).

Who can access our obesity service?

To attend our specialist weight management service you need to have one of the following:

• BMI > 40 kg/m2
• BMI > 35kg/m2 with weight related co-morbidities, for example: high blood pressure, Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, Type 2 Diabetes
• BMI > 35 kg/m2 and Type 2 Diabetes (BMI> 32.5 kg/m2 for Asian population)
• An obese individual with complex needs who has not responded to local weight management services

How can you be referred to our specialist weight management service?

If you live in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, your GP can refer you to your local weight management service. Our current provider is Healthy You (opens in a new tab).

You can also self-refer on the Healthy You website (opens in a new tab).

Healthy You will triage your referral and may offer interventions locally before referring you to our specialist weight management service.

We are happy to accept referrals no matter where you live. However please note that we are unfortunately currently unable to accept any referrals from Suffolk and North East Essex.

If you live outside of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, your Integrated Care Board (ICB) must agree to fund your treatment with us before we can see you. Your local ICB is responsible for controlling the local health budget and has to decide on the priorities for your community. Therefore any referral to us from outside Cambridgeshire and Peterborough must come with confirmation of agreed funding – an Individual Funding Request Form (IFR).

If you think you require an assessment, treatment and support from our service and live outside of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, your first step would be to approach your GP. Your GP will conduct an assessment and will be able to determine if you would benefit from attending our service. There may be support and treatment the GP can refer you to in your community before considering a referral to our service.

What will happen when you are referred into our specialist weight management service?

On attending our service, we start with a comprehensive assessment. We will discuss your medical and surgical history, including family history. We will talk about your weight, what has worked well for you in the past, and we will discuss eating habits. This initial appointment will take place virtually – usually via telephone- or video-call consultation. We will also ask you to complete psychometric questionnaires and to attend an appointment at Addenbrooke’s hospital to have your anthropometry and blood tests taken.

Following on from this, your case will be presented at our multi-disciplinary team meeting by the team member who you met at your initial appointment. This meeting is attended by our multi-disciplinary team who work together to decide the best treatment pathway for you.

Who are the multi-disciplinary team?

Our multi-disciplinary team consists of various specialists whom work together to ensure patients get the best treatment safely. We have a team of consultants, specialist nurses, specialist dietitians and a psychologist. Our expert team has many years of experience and all of the team have specifically chosen to specialise in the field of obesity and weight management. The team all understand the difficulties faced by people who carry excess weight.

What treatments are available under the specialist weight management service?

We work collaboratively with patients who have struggled for a long time to lose weight, with a focus on long-term lifestyle changes, not diets. Our service supports changes through: medical optimisation, diet and exercise advice, behavioural change and motivation techniques, psychology assessment, recommendation and treatments. More recently we are offering weight loss injection therapy for weight loss in line with national guidance. For more information on national guidance please see NICE guidance on Overweight and Obesity Management (opens in a new tab).

As we offer a range of treatment options, we will discuss with you the option that best suits your needs.

Once you have completed your care with us we hope that you have gained the tools needed to lose weight and maintain weight loss through positive lifestyle changes. For individuals who would like to pursue weight loss surgery you may have the option of being referred to a bariatric surgery service to be considered for surgical intervention - provided that you have demonstrated weight loss/positive lifestyle changes and meet the referral criteria. If you are not overly keen to pursue a surgical intervention, we are likely to discharge you back to your GP after completing treatment with us.

What do we expect from you under the specialist weight management service?

Our specialist weight management service is mostly run virtually – offering telephone or video-call consultations. On occasions you may be offered a face-to-face appointment. This will be located in Clinic 32 - the Wolfson Diabetes and Endocrine Clinic – on the ground floor of the Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre, Addenbrooke’s Hospital. You will also be asked to attend this clinic for anthropometry and blood tests.

Throughout your care we ask you to:

• Engage with our team appropriately
• Agree to attend all appointments. This includes keeping your clinic appointment free and being in an appropriate environment at your planned appointment time (even if it is a virtual appointment). We know that life can be busy and sometimes you may need to reschedule your appointment. However, if you do not attend your appointments and you do not let us know, you will be discharged from the service.

What if you change your mind about having support under our specialist weight management programme?

We understand that in some cases you may not wish to lose weight despite being referred, or it may not always be the right time for you to lose weight. Embarking on a weight management journey which is unsuccessful can be detrimental to one’s confidence and hamper future weight loss attempts. So we would encourage you to be open and honest with our team and therefore we can sign-post you to the right support at the right time.

If you would like any more information please contact the obesity team on 01223 348124. Please leave a voicemail and a member of our team will return your call. Alternatively, you can contact us by emailing the obesity team (opens in a new tab).

Further resources

For further information please see the following links:

• Live Well: NHS website for advice, tips and tools to help you make the best choices about your health and well-being
• Change4Life: NHS website for advice, tips and support for the family to make healthy lifestyle changes
• Couch to 5km: The free NHS Couch to 5K programme makes it easier by guiding you from the couch to running 5km in just 9 weeks.
• NHS Better Health - weight loss: A comprehensive NHS resource offering information and support on weight loss.
• British Heart Foundation: Charity which researches into cause, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of heart and circulatory diseases. Information leaflets are also available on their website.
• Diabetes UK: A patient, health-care professional and research charity that cares for, connects with and campaigns of behalf of people affected and at risk of diabetes.
• Obesity Empowerment Network: Dedicated to empowering people affected by obesity by giving them a public voice.
• Obesity UK: UK charity dedicated to supporting those living with obesity
• Association for the Study of Obesity: This group has a membership of scientists, medical and health professionals and run training meetings, conferences and produces newsletters.
• British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS): This is professional society of surgeons involved in obesity management. BOMSS aims to promote the development of high quality centres for obesity surgery, to educate and train future obesity surgeons and to guide commissioning and policy for the use of obesity surgery.
• BOMSS GP Hub: Providing Health-Care Professionals guidance on managing patients following Bariatric Surgery
• NICE guidelines: Overweight and Obesity(Up-dated January 2025): 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.