Outcomes of referrals to Weight Management and Type 2 Diabetes Prevention and Remission Services
1 April 2022 - 31 March 2025

About this release

This annual release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on activity in weight management and type 2 diabetes prevention and remission services for adults and children and young people between April 2022 and March 2025. Information about planned developments for this data are available in the main report.

Main points

The number of referrals into adult weight management and type 2 diabetes prevention and remission pathways increased from 29,378 in 2022/23 to 42,187 in 2024/25.

• Around a third (34%) of all referrals had started weight management interventions, however this varied across different pathways.
• A fifth (20%) of all referrals recorded a final (last attended) intervention session enabling weight loss over the course of the intervention to be calculated.

Bar chart comparing weight loss in kilograms across three pathways: Tier 2 - Adult, Tier 3 - Adult, and Type 2 diabetes remission. It shows weight loss for three time durations—less than 10 weeks (blue), 10 to 13 weeks (green), and 14 weeks or more (purple)—with Type 2 diabetes remission achieving the highest weight loss, peaking at 14.2 kg for 14 weeks or more.

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Average weight loss (kg) by duration of intervention and weight management pathway; Scotland; April 2022 to March 2025

The average weight loss, where data was provided, was 3.8kg in the Tier 2 pathway, 3.6kg in the Tier 3 pathway and 13.7kg in the more intensive type 2 diabetes remission pathway.

• Longer interventions reported higher average (mean) weight loss. It may be that longer programmes lead to better weight loss, or that individuals seeing the benefits of engaging with a programme are more likely to continue attending.
• Data on weight was missing for a substantial proportion (43%) of final sessions. It is unclear whether this missing weight data follows a similar distribution to that which is included in the analysis and results could differ had this data been available.
• The most recorded reason for discharge was lack of engagement or attendance with 31% of all discharges recorded as this. The majority of people (69%) who were discharged for lack of engagement or attendance had not started treatment.

Referrals to child healthy weight pathways increased from 1,401 in 2022/23 to 1,816 in 2024/25.

• Around half (49%) of all children and young people referrals had started child healthy weight interventions, and 17% of all referrals had recorded a final (last attended) intervention.

Background

Following the last report, published in 2024, PHS undertook a review of the core dataset. PHS worked with NHS boards, Scottish Government and other stakeholders to identify changes to the core dataset based on the feedback received. This release expands on previous reporting with a greater focus on progress through pathways and the outcomes of weight management interventions. The publication includes data from 13 of 14 NHS boards and reports on both adults and children and young people for NHS-commissioned services. Tier 2 and Tier 3 pathways provide targeted weight management interventions with Tier 3 encompassing more complex cases. There are some areas where missing data may affect interpretation and completeness and quality is discussed within the report.