H&F Tier 2 Adult Weight Management Service procurement

Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council are in the process of commissioning a service to deliver a high-quality Tier 2 Weight Management Service in Hammersmith and Fulham from 1 April 2025. This service is a new service for the borough, and there are no workforce considerations as yet.

The service will fall within the Provider Selection Regime under the Health Services (PSR’s) Regulations 2023 and we are seeking market engagement to help us determine both the approach and the route to market

As there are already several public, private and community services provided in H&F supporting residents in achieving a healthy lifestyle, the provider will build upon the current provision and partner with our communities and services to deliver a multi-component, whole systems approach model that delivers:

A Universal, non-clinical, healthy lifestyle service that is offered to all adults (18+) with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or more (or 27.5 kg/mg2 for people with a South Asian, Chinese, other Asian, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean family background5), to support with reaching a healthy weight

Targeted support for residents who experience health inequities and experience greater barriers to achieving a healthy weight

Specialist services including culturally appropriate dietetic and health coaching support to assist with developing care plans tailored to individual needs.

The proposed Service

The core element of this service will be delivery of a minimum 12-week healthy lifestyle programme that is delivered via a hybrid model of both digital and face-to-face services for weight management. It should be a multi-component service that includes diet, physical activity and behaviour change components. The overall aim of this of this service will be to support weight loss for adults living with obesity, and sustainable weight maintenance through a place-based and person-centred approach.

The other elements required of this service are:

holistic health and wellbeing coaching, via qualified health coaches who regularly communicate with service users to ensure high engagement in the service, and who support with navigating and signposting to other local services which address risk factors for obesity (social, economic, physical, emotional) and related co-morbidities (such as diabetes). Health coaches should provide additional follow-up support following the formal 12-week programme for service users who might require it

qualified community dieticians or nutritionists who can work in partnership with not just individuals, but also families of service users to support healthier eating

provision and reasonable adjustments for service users with physical or learning disabilities and for individuals with mental ill health

marketing and promotion of the service to the eligible service user population and to potential referrers (such as primary care providers)

developing and maintaining a dedicated website for the service, which includes healthy lifestyle advice and signposting to other local support services.

The successful provider will need to demonstrate that they can deliver services of a continuously high quality (in line with NICE guidelines) and will be responsive to the needs of the diverse local population (as described in the H&F Joint Strategic Needs Assessment6). The service will be monitored on an on-going basis to ensure they deliver the quality required.

It is important that appropriate professionals are used to deliver the service, including a registered dietician or nutritionist, health coaches and physical activity and behaviour change professionals, and that staff with expertise in monitoring and evaluation are used to ensure consistent and impactful collection and reporting of data.