Impact Review 2025/26: Healthy Weight HIT

The Healthy Weight Health Integration Team (HIT) brings together people interested in the prevention and treatment of obesity, from across Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, including the public, researchers, health professionals, and clinicians. The goal is to connect research, policy, and practice to help change the unhealthy environments we live in. Here are the HIT’s highlights from 2025/26.

3rd July 2026

First system-wide commitment to create healthier places

In October 2025, partners across the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care System (ICS), including the Healthy Weight HIT, launched the Why Weight? Pledge—the first system-wide commitment of its kind to create healthier places.

Developed collaboratively across health and care organisations, the Pledge sets out 10 commitments to support healthier environments and give more people the opportunity to lead healthy lives.

HIT members (including public contributors) are now evaluating the Pledge’s impact on signatory organisations, supported by funding secured from the NIHR Three Schools Prevention Programme.

Public engagement workshops

HIT Co-Director Ruth Mears (working with Caafi Health, HIT public contributors, Nina Pugh and Beki Langford), facilitated four workshops exploring culturally competent approaches to weight management in ethnically diverse communities.

Funded through an RCF grant, with public contributors as co-applicants, this work reflects the HIT’s strong commitment to inclusive research. The HIT is seeking further funding to expand this programme in collaboration with King’s Health Partners.

Obesity Forum

In September 2025, the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit and Policy Bristol hosted an Obesity Forum in Bristol, bringing together a diverse range of speakers.

The event focused on setting priorities for obesity policy and epidemiological research in the context of rapidly evolving treatments. Several HIT members spoke at the event, including (??), Karen Coulman, Lou Lacey, Sally Hogg and Claire Lowe.

Psychosis and weight

Charlotte Lee, Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, is leading research focused on weight management in people with serious mental illness. Funded by an ICB Launching Fellowship and an NIHR SPCR Postdoctoral Award, the work spans behavioural and pharmacological approaches, including the WHEEL study (Weight cHange for people with sErious mEntal iLlness) and the BRIDGE study (Bridging the Implementation of GLP-1-RAs for People with Serious Mental Illness).

HIT co-director Ruth Mears is a collaborator for both studies. This research is embedded within both the Healthy Weight and Psychosis HITs, creating opportunities for collaboration, knowledge exchange and cross-HIT research.

Funding enabled in 2025–26

In 2025–26, the Healthy Weight HIT helped secure £3.4 million in external funding to support research, improve outcomes and address health inequalities.