Slimming World announces continued support of the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme
Slimming World is proud to announce it will be continuing to support patients via the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme after participants have seen weight-loss success thanks to its service. The UK’s leading weight-management service was chosen as one of a select number of expert providers to offer a free digital service to patients seeking weight-loss support from the NHS last year.
The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme is an accessible and convenient way to help people develop healthier eating habits, be more active and lose weight. Over 200,000 people have already joined the programme since it first launched in July 2021, with many already seeing positive benefits to their health and wellbeing.
Referred by their GP or other Primary Care health professional, an eligible patient is able to access the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme themself, allowing them to choose from a number of tried-and-tested plans which provide nutrition advice, wellbeing support and help to boost activity levels.
Patients who select Slimming World from the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme, become a member of Slimming World Online, Slimming World’s easy-to-use digital service, which benefits from the organisation’s 50 years of expertise in weight management and is rooted in the same psychology of slimming as its thousands of community groups. Slimming World Online members also become part of an online community of slimmers who will inspire and motivate them to make changes and develop healthy, long-lasting habits.
Patients will follow an easy, flexible eating plan which encourages members to fill up on those foods that are naturally lower in energy density (calories per gram) and also highly satisfying, while limiting foods that are highest in fat and sugar and are less filling. This means they can lose weight without feeling hungry and reduce their calorie intake without needing to count them. With access to more than 1,800 recipes, the patient will also be able to tailor their eating preferences and add them to their daily planner.
As well as adopting new healthy eating habits, Slimming World Online members are encouraged to become more active. A physical activity programme provides inspiration and support to develop an active lifestyle, whatever their starting point, and to build up in ways that they enjoy and at their own pace until regular physical activity becomes an intrinsic part of their daily routine.
They can access support and information to make changes online either on a computer or via a mobile device. They’ll also be able to use the Slimming World barcode scanner to browse food choices when they’re out and about and the programme now also links with a large number of wearable devices to track activity.
As a Slimming World Online member, the patients are not losing weight on their own – Slimming World offers exceptional support, ensuring motivation from the community to achieve their weight-loss dreams.
Paul continues: “Having pioneered Slimming World on Referral 22 years ago, we now run over 100 schemes offering weight-loss support to people who are referred to our groups or online through Local Authorities, employers and the NHS.
“Slimming World has long called for greater support for weight management – including training health professionals to enable them to talk to their patients about weight in a sensitive and skilled way. The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme gives health professionals the support they need in offering patients access to digital weight-loss services and allows patients a choice in the programme they feel is most relevant to them, and their lifestyle.
“With more than 50 years of weight management through behaviour change, Slimming World has a clear role to play in working together to develop a digital weight-loss solution for the future health of the nation.
“We enjoy working with NHS England, helping even more people to lose weight and discover healthy habits for life and are pleased to see that so many NHS patients have successfully lost weight through the programme and made healthy habits that will last them a lifetime.”
The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme launched across England from July 2021 and is a free 12-week programme providing online weight management plans for those who want to make changes to their health, have a BMI of 30+, or 27.5+ for Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups who are at an increased risk of conditions such as Type 2 diabetes at a lower BMI.
To participate in the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme users must be diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, or both. For more information on The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme and the eligibility criteria, please visit the NHS website or contact Slimming World directly at swor.superservice@slimmingworld.co.uk.
ENDS
Slimming World was founded by Margaret Miles-Bramwell OBE in Derbyshire in 1969 and has become the UK and Ireland’s leading weight loss organisation with more people choosing to attend a Slimming World group each week than any other weight loss programme. We support hundreds of thousands of people, both in our groups and online, to lose weight and to adopt new habits to stay slim for life.
Over the years our founding principles haven’t changed:
· Our unique programme is based on a powerfully motivating support system called IMAGE (Individual Motivation and Group Experience) Therapy. Underpinned by a deep understanding of the psychology of overweight people, and incorporating the most effective sustainable behaviour change techniques, IMAGE Therapy is designed to inspire and motivate slimmers to make positive changes and to develop new, healthier habits around food and activity.
· Food Optimising is our healthy eating plan, based on the liberating concept of Free Food. We encourage our members to fill up on those foods that are naturally lower in energy density (calories per gram) and also highly satisfying while limiting foods that are highest in fat and sugar and are less satisfying, so they lose weight without ever feeling hungry or deprived and without having to weigh, measure or count everything they eat.
· Our activity support programme, Body Magic helps members to overcome any barriers around activity. Members choose when to start and they set the pace, finding activities they genuinely enjoy, until regular physical activity becomes an intrinsic part of their daily routine.
At the heart of everything we do lies our passion for treating every member with genuine care, empathy and respect.
We’re proud to work with the NHS, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), The Royal College of Midwives and others to help shape the future of weight management in the UK and Ireland.
For more information about Slimming World’s approach visit slimmingworld.co.uk or slimmingworld.ie
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For the Press Office visit our newsroom or email public.relations@slimmingworld.co.uk