Achieving fully integrated care has long been a priority for the UK Government, and indeed the health and care sectors, who have advocated for the greater collaboration and joining up of healthcare services for several years. Integrated Care Systems (ICS’s), as outlined by NHS England, will ‘remove traditional divisions between hospitals and family doctors, between physical and mental health, and between NHS and council services.’ The ambition is that by removing these divisions, a more holistic and streamlined approach to health and care will be achieved.

The obesity crisis remains one of the most pressing public health challenges in the UK. Recently published figures reveal that two-thirds of all adults are overweight or obese while new findings released by the NHS show that obesity was a factor in more than one million hospital admissions in 2019/20. Indeed, with the Covid-19 pandemic brutally exposing the high risk of serious illness and death that those with obesity face, it is now more important than ever that the focus is firmly placed on the care and supervision of overweight and obese individuals.