Disparate healthcare experiences of people living with overweight or obesity in England (15 September 2021)

Summary

This study published in The Lancet analysed patient comments gathered from freely available websites using the Patient Experience Platform. It examined comments to identify disparity in care experiences of people who identified as overweight or living with obesity across all NHS Acute and Specialist Trusts and all general practitioners (GPs) in England from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2020. 

The study found that:

• across all regions, perceptions of the quality of care in the categories ‘Effective Treatment’ and ‘Emotional Support’ were significantly lower for people who identified as living with obesity compared to people who did not.
• people who identified as living with obesity in the negative behavioural cluster have a lower overall perceived quality of care score.
• barriers to quality care experienced by people who identified as living with obesity include speed of access, effective treatment, emotional support and stigmatising healthcare experiences.