So little cash has been put aside by the NHS for the rollout of the Mounjaro weight-loss jab in GP surgical procedures that as few as one in 5 individuals with life-threatening weight problems is prone to get remedy, new analysis reveals.
The NHS estimates that round 220,000 individuals residing with weight problems might be eligible for remedy by their GP over the subsequent three years.
However Freedom of Data requests by the British Medical Journal revealed that funding from NHS England has fallen effectively brief of what’s wanted for the rollout.
Simply 9 out of 40 Built-in Care Boards (ICBs) in England stated they’d sufficient funding to deal with the 70% of eligible sufferers who’re anticipated to come back ahead.
4 ICBs – which plan well being providers in native areas – stated NHS funding lined simply 25% or fewer of their eligible sufferers.
Coventry and Warwickshire ICB stated funding would solely stretch to deal with 21% of its sufferers.
The findings verify an investigation by Sky News earlier this summer that entry to Mounjaro is a postcode lottery for individuals residing with weight problems.
Ellen Welch, Medical doctors’ Affiliation UK (DAUK) co-chair, advised the BMJ: “These figures verify the concern that the rollout shouldn’t be match for function.
“There’s a enormous discrepancy between nationwide messaging and what sufferers are literally being delivered on a neighborhood stage.”
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5 ICBs admitted they’re already contemplating additional tightening the prescribing standards or rationing the remedy past the plan agreed by the NHS.
Any change would successfully transfer the goalposts for individuals who thought they certified for NHS remedy.
Birmingham and Solihull ICB obtained funding to cowl simply 52% of its eligible sufferers. It admitted: “Tough choices are having to be made to make sure cash is spent in the simplest and environment friendly method doable and for the best affected person profit.”
Dr Jonathan Hazlehurst, an weight problems specialist and researcher on the College of Birmingham, stated NHS England has solely supplied funding for simply over 22,000 sufferers within the first 12 months of the rollout.
“It reveals that there is a lack of political will to fund this adequately,” he advised Sky Information.
“NHS England says that weight problems prices the NHS £11.4bn each year as a pure NHS value.
“But we will not even afford to correctly fund the rollout of a life-changing drug in 12 months one. That simply does not make any sense.”
An NHS spokesperson stated: “The NHS is absolutely supporting the phased rollout of tirzepatide for eligible sufferers, having issued steering consistent with the NICE steering, and supplied funding to native ICBs to help affected person care in March 2025.
“These characterize brand-new providers in major care which might be being established and scaled up over time, beginning with those that are in probably the most want – and within the meantime, eligible sufferers can get weight reduction help from a variety of different providers, together with the NHS Digital Weight Administration programme.”
