Give more people weight loss jabs on the NHS, say MPs
MPs say the NHS plan to offer the weight-loss drug Mounjaro to just 220,000 people — around 6% of those eligible — is unambitious, and warn slow access is creating a two-tier system.
Cross-party MPs have called for many more people to be given access to weight-loss injections such as Mounjaro on the NHS in England, warning that the current rollout is so slow it risks creating a two-tier system in which only the well-off benefit.
The Commons Health Committee said the NHS plan to provide the jab to 220,000 patients — roughly 6% of the estimated 2.8 million people who are eligible — was unambitious. The health service is currently working towards a 12-year rollout, driven by cost concerns.
Offering the drug to everyone eligible at once would be hugely expensive, the committee acknowledged, partly because prescribing and monitoring are managed largely through GP practices. MPs argued the NHS should learn from private providers, which often use digital platforms to oversee patients, and said streamlining support could bring the bill down.
The committee also demanded a crackdown on the black market in weight-loss drugs, calling for a public awareness campaign on the dangers of buying medicines from unlicensed sellers and a review of how enforcement is carried out.
MPs criticised wider weight-loss services as poorly designed, saying people should have better access to diet and lifestyle programmes and to bariatric surgery. They said obesity should be treated as a serious long-term health condition, comparable to diabetes.
A campaign group for people living with obesity said current treatment services were letting patients down. NHS England said it was looking at ways to speed up the rollout of weight-loss medicines.
Source: BBC News — Top Stories — TrendWire reports stories in its own words; facts should be confirmed against the original source.