Obesity is associated with developing a number of long-term conditions and puts patients at risk of poorer physical and mental health outcomes, as well as impacting on the NHS in terms of increased hospital admissions.

As primary care gears towards increasing patient partnership models of care, understanding the most efficient and effective parts of the GP’s role including offering emerging treatment options, is an important aspect of an holistic approach to therapy in helping people with obesity. It is important to understand the unique role of primary care in obesity management, and how the GP may act as a referral coordinator with secondary care specialties such as dieticians, endocrinologists and weight management surgery.

In this series GPs and secondary care specialists discuss the approaches to obesity management within England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each takes place as a discussion and incorporates case studies to best illustrate the patient journey from primary, secondary and community services, the management options available to the GP and, importantly, insights on how to best approach obesity with the patient during the consultation. Country-specific links to further information are provided for both the patient and healthcare professional. Please see the top right of this page for the individual country pages.