Department of Health

Website of the Department of Health

Please note that this website has a UK government access keys system.

You are here:

Obesity resources for health professionals

  • Last modified date:
    29 June 2009

Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross-Government strategy for England

This strategy supports the creation of a healthy society - from early years, to schools and food, from sport and physical activity to planning, transport and the health service.

To support this strategy a number of publications have been produced to provide guidance to those working on obesity, including a toolkit for developing local strategies. Please visit the link below for the full list of Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives resources.

Guidance on setting goals for local prevalence of child obesity

Updated guidance is available here providing advice to PCTs and local authorities on circumstances in which a refresh of the Vital Signs and the National Indicator Set child obesity goals for Year 6 children is warranted.

Foresight - Tackling Obesities - Future Choices Project

The Government asked Foresight in 2005 to carry out a review of obesity. Foresight reported its findings ‘Tackling Obesities: Future Choices’ Project  in October 2007.

Foresight is the UK Government’s science based futures think tank based in the Government Office for Science. The aim of the programme is to build on the scientific evidence base to provide challenging visions of the future to help inform government strategies, policies and priorities.

Obesity Care Pathway and Your Weight, Your Health

This comprehensive package includes materials for health professionals as well as information to be given to patients. It includes Obesity Care Pathways for adults and children and a supporting booklet with detailed information for health professionals. In addition, there are tools to help GPs raise the rather sensitive issue of weight opportunistically with both adults and children.

For guidance on food portion sizes to lose weight, download this booklet from the British Heart Foundation.

NICE guidance

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published Guidance on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children in December 2006.

The guidance makes a series of recommendations covering the NHS, local authorities and partners, early-years settings, schools, workplaces, self-help, commercial and community settings.

These recommendations are practical and very much in line with our cross-Government programme on obesity.

It is the first integrated clinical and public health guidance to be published by NICE and includes a focus on prevention in addition to clinical intervention, recognising that obesity is a complex problem.

The Department of Health strongly encourages professionals from NHS, local authorities and partners, early-years settings, schools, workplaces, self-help, commercial and community settings to read this guidance and build the recommendations into their local planning strategies.

The NICE guidance on obesity can be downloaded at:

National Child Measurement Programme

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) involves all children in Reception and Year 6 having their height and weight recorded. The exercise will take place in schools every year.

Forecasting obesity to 2010

The focus of this report is to forecast what levels of obesity in England may be in 2010 if current trends in obesity prevalence continue unchanged.

The healthy living social marketing initiative: a review of the evidence

This report is part of the healthy living social marketing initiative that underpins the Government’s approach to tackling obesity. The report is integral to answering key questions; what in people’s  behaviours place them at risk of unhealthy weight gain, what drives their current behaviours, how might they be motivated to change, who might be able to influence them and what might act as barriers to change. The report is intended for use by health professionals, Government, local government, NGO and for profit organisations.

Access keys