Quality standard

This quality standard covers assessing and managing obesity in adults, young people and children, including referral for specialist care and bariatric (weight loss) surgery. It includes people who are obese and have, or are at risk of, other medical conditions. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.

It does not cover preventing people from becoming overweight or obese, or lifestyle weight management programmes for people who are overweight or obese. These are covered in NICE’s quality standards for obesity in children and young people: prevention and lifestyle weight management programmes and obesity in adults: prevention and lifestyle weight management programmes.

It does not cover areas of national policy, such as such as legislative changes and national programmes.

How to use NICE quality standards and how we develop them

Quality standards help you improve the quality of care you provide or commission. They apply in England and Wales (see the UK government website and Welsh government website). Decisions on how they apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland are made by ministers in the Scottish government and Northern Ireland Executive.

Find out how to use quality standards and how we develop them. We check our quality standards every August to make sure they are up to date.