NHS begins mass rollout of weight-loss jabs to patients in England | NHS
Thousands of patients in England will be able to access weight loss via their general practitioner from Monday for the first time.
Mass deployment on the NHS means that family doctors will be allowed to prescribe medication for the first time. 220,000 people are expected to have a “greater need” to receive Mounjaro, also known as shooting and manufactured by Eli Lilly, on the NHS over the next three years.
The drug works by lowering blood sugar and slows down the speed with which food is digested.
From Monday, general practitioners in England will be allowed to prescribe Mounjaro to seriously obese people living with a range of other health problems. Patients had to access medication before a special weight loss service.
GP leaders said that some family physicians had expressed their concern about the additional workload, while pharmacy experts also said there could be pressure on medication supplies.
During the first year of the program, people will be offered with a body mass index score (BMI) of more than 40 people who have at least four other health problems linked to obesity such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and obstructive sleep apnea.
Estimates suggest that around 1.5 million people in the United Kingdom are already taking weight loss drugs, which may have been prescribed through specialized weight loss services or by private prescription.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, president of the Royal College of GPS, said: “Although we recognize the potential advantages of weight loss drugs, we know that many general practitioners are concerned with the implications of the deployment of weight loss drugs in general practice, both in terms of work and training to launch and manage these treatments correctly.
“The GPS and our teams are already working under intense pressure and work load and work pressure, and this must be taken into account in this deployment in order to ensure that it can be delivered safely.
“More broadly, while weight loss drugs have many potential advantages for patients who find it difficult to lose weight and who meet all clinical criteria for a prescription, they should not be considered a” miracle solution “to help weight loss.
“We must also see the accent on prevention, preventing people from being overweight in the first place so that they do not need medical intervention later.”
Olivier Picard, the president of the National Pharmacy Association, said that the demand for weight loss jabs continued to increase sharply.
“While the NHS is now traveling to implement the advice of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and the shooting becomes prescribed to more patients, we expect to see prescription volumes increase quickly,” he said.
“However, the provision of the NHS will not immediately meet the request, we therefore expect that many people continue to look for it in private in a pharmacy.”
