NHS to offer 24/7obesity advice on WhatsApp

The NHS will offer round-the-clock obesity advice through WhatsApp under a new government-funded programme backed by £85 million from the state and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.

The programme stems from a memorandum of understanding between the government and Lilly announced at the International Investment Summit in October 2024. Eligible patients will be able to access support imminently.

The Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme (OPIP), announced on Saturday (27 June), will fund 12 projects across the UK, with up to £50 million coming from the government and up to £35 million from Eli Lilly and Company.

The programme is delivered by Innovate UK and will run until March 2029.

In Kent and Medway, up to 3,300 families will receive AI-powered advice on healthy eating, activity, sleep, and stress through WhatsApp, available at any time of day or night.

Support covers women from pregnancy through to a child’s early years and is available without a clinician referral. The service responds in more than 20 languages and offers voice notes for women who find reading difficult.

Women can ask questions, track their health, and request a dedicated AI health coach who checks in regularly and helps set goals. Those who need specialist input can be referred to a team that includes an obesity specialist, psychologist and dietitian.

The Kent project is one of 12 funded under the programme, which uses technology to widen access to weight management care. In Norfolk, north east Essex and Suffolk, up to 85,270 patients will be matched to care using AI-assisted triage, filling in a short online health check from home to be directed to a dietitian, digital education, behavioural support or specialist care.

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland will open an initial 6 neighbourhood hubs in community pharmacies and gyms, with referral routes via GPs, schools and councils. The Birmingham, Solihull and Black Country BRIDGE project offers self-referral through a website operating in over 18 languages.

Other projects cover Coventry and Warwickshire, Dorset, Lincolnshire, South London, Lanarkshire and Midlothian. I

n Midlothian, the LIMITLESS STRIDE programme will provide weight management support to up to 10,000 people via the NHS Scotland health app, delivered by NHS Lothian in partnership with the Defence Medical Command.

Northern Ireland will introduce a neighbourhood-based service allowing self-referral, while Wales will launch its first fully integrated national obesity care pathway with a bilingual digital entry point in English and Welsh.

Science Secretary Liz Kendall said almost 1 in 3 adults in the country are living with obesity, describing the projects as meeting people where they are through a pharmacy, an app, or support in their own language.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care James Murray said obesity is an epidemic requiring bold action, and that the projects would test new ways of delivering care closer to people’s homes.

Almost one third of adults in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and one in four in Wales, are living with obesity. Estimates suggest it costs UK society up to £107 billion a year, including more than £9 billion a year for the NHS.

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