Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme (OPIP): Strand 1

Overview

Innovate UK, in partnership with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and Eli Lilly, is investing up to £85 million to develop innovative community and primary care-based weight management pathways. Funding includes £50 million from DSIT and £35 million from Lilly, with at least £10 million ring-fenced for devolved administration health services.

The aim is to create scalable, patient-centred pathways that provide holistic, clinically appropriate and resource-efficient care, while reducing health inequalities across the UK.

Scope

Projects must design and deliver innovative weight management pathways within community and primary care.

Services should:

• Recruit significant numbers of patients annually
• Offer holistic, person-centred care, integrating lifestyle interventions, pharmacological options (where appropriate), and psychological support
• Be clinically effective, efficient, and aligned with NICE (NG246) and SIGN guidelines
• Demonstrate readiness to deliver services to patients by 1 August 2026
• Ensure sustainability and clear plans for continuation, wind-down, or expansion beyond the funded period

Regular reporting to programme evaluators is required, with findings expected to inform future national guidance.

Key themes and topics

Applications must align with one of three strands:

1) Access and management service (this strand)

The service must provide a comprehensive patient-centred access service within a multi-disciplinary team, to include multiple referral inputs, triage, onward referrals, care pathway management, escalation and reporting. The service will support the optimal use of all available services for weight management, including national and local programmes. An access and management service may cover adults as well as services for children and young people. It may be digital, physical or operate with a hybrid delivery model, but must ensure access according to clinical need and address health inequalities.

2) Care pathway services

Services must provide new pathways and models of care for the patient once they have been referred for an intervention. The service must assess patient eligibility, checking for contra-indications and facilitating access to appropriate services, offering choice where available. It must be based around new delivery pathways that demonstrate innovation, for example, but not limited to:

• community pharmacy led service
• services that include digital or remote solutions
• integrating existing community based services

Novel models of care may be able to utilise local or nationally available weight management support services when meeting eligibility criteria. The service may cover adults as well as services for children and young people.

If Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in England procure behavioural support locally, they should:

• submit the specification and price to NHS England as part of routine OPIP reporting
• have due regard to the specification for the national framework procurement

The provider would be expected to deliver data in line with the nationally mandated data set, to enable comparisons between locally and nationally procured services.

Scottish health boards should refer to their own local finance and procurement teams for advice relating to this. Scottish health boards considering putting forward an application should ensure they do so in collaboration with their local weight management services, where existing lifestyle services are managed and delivered.

3) Combined access and management service and care pathway services

This competition strand requires the merging of both the access and management service and new care pathway services strands and must meet the innovation requirements expected of both.

Your access and management service must provide a comprehensive patient-centred access service to include multiple referral inputs, triage, onward referrals, care pathway management, escalation and reporting. An access and management service may cover adults as well as services for children and young people. It may be digital, physical or operate with a hybrid delivery model, but must ensure access according to clinical need and address health inequalities.

Your care pathway services must provide new models of care for the patient once they have been referred for an intervention. The service must assess patient eligibility, checking for contra-indications and facilitating access to appropriate services, offering choice where available. It must be based around new delivery pathways that demonstrate innovation, for example, but not limited to:

• community pharmacy led service
• services that include digital or remote solutions
• integrating existing community based services

Project duration

Projects must start by 1 May 2026 (permission to incur costs at risk may be granted from 1 February 2026)

Patient services must begin by 1 August 2026

Projects must end by 31 March 2029

Award value

For the Access and Management Service strand: projects must have eligible costs between £2 million and £3.5 million. Funding will cover 100% of eligible costs.

Funding rates

• Total funding for this strand: up to £14 million
• Funding provided as a non-subsidy grant (no selective commercial advantage)
• Projects must demonstrate cost-effectiveness and scalability

Eligibility criteria

Projects must:

• Have eligible costs of £2m–£3.5m
• Deliver all project activity in the UK and exploit results from the UK
• Be led by an eligible NHS organisation (e.g., Integrated Care Boards in England, Health Boards in Scotland, Public Health Wales, or Health and Social Care trusts in Northern Ireland)
• Involve a consortium of providers, which may include NHS organisations, community pharmacies, GPs, CICs, or third sector bodies
• Demonstrate readiness to deliver patient services by August 2026

Additional rules

• Each eligible public sector organisation can lead on up to two applications across all strands
• Subcontractors are permitted but must represent fair market value and be UK-based