OB003 - Living with Obesity

OB003 - Living with Obesity

Warning
The codes referenced in this article are taken from the NHS Technology Reference Update Distribution (TRUD).  Not all of these may be present or selectable in all clinical systems.
Info
The information contained within this article is from version 50 of the Business Rules for Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF).                                                                                  
Idea
This indicator
  1. was protected in the contract year 2024/25 and paid at 2023/24 performance levels.                                                                                                                                                     
  2. was retired in the contract year 2025/26
This support article is retained as the obesity register is still used for the weight management enhanced service and best practice would be to accurately maintain your disease registers.

Indicator definition

Indicator ID

Description

OB003

The contractor establishes and maintains a register of patients aged 18 years or over living with obesity, appropriately adjusted for ethnicity in line with NICE guidelines – either with a BMI greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2 recorded in the preceding 12 months, or a BMI greater than or equal to 27.5 kg/m2 recorded in the preceding 12 months for patients with a South Asian, Chinese, other Asian, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean family background.

What are the criteria for this indicator?

In order to be included in OB003, patients must:
  1. be at least 18 years old
  2. have a BMI:
    1. of at least 30 (either by value or code)
    2. of at least 27.5 with a coded ethnic origin (South Asian, Chinese, other Asian, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean)

What are the common pitfalls/what do I need to watch out for?

  1. A BMI must be recorded every contract year for a patient to remain on the register. Clinical system reporting appears to use a rolling 12 months to maintain a register size (as opposed to resetting to 0 on 1st April). 
Alert
The list of ethnic origin codes which help to apply the lower 27.5 threshold is very narrow (using just the 2001 and 2011 census codes) so there may be patients with a BMI in the range 27.5 - 30 who have a different ethnic origin code who are being missed off the register.