NHS: where does all the money go?

Part 4b - Pet Projects: Obesity Apps

NHS England’s annual report and accounts say they have delivered on objective four of the government’s mandate to the NHS  

Objective 4: Embed a population health management approach within local systems, stepping up action to prevent ill health and tackle health disparities 

In meeting the requirement, NHS England reports The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme has been successfully operational since 2021 and yielded 240,000 referrals by March 2023. 

TTE has concerns that, as a funder, NHS England is commissioning itself to deliver on population health management projects. Usually, that would be seen as a direct conflict, as one might tend towards pet projects that might not be the best use of funds. Therefore, TTE looked into whether the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme is the best use of funds to deliver population health. 

On the NHS England website, the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme supports adults living with obesity who also have a diagnosis of diabetes, hypert…