Obese people will get easier access to slimming drugs like Wegovy in £40m pilot to reduce NHS waiting lists
Overweight people will have easier access to obesity drugs as part of a two-year pilot the Prime Minister hopes will help cut NHS waiting lists.
The £40m plan to be announced by Rishi Sunak on Wednesday means the treatments will no longer only be available via specialist weight loss management schemes, which are largely hospital-based. Tens of thousands more people will now have access to the drugs, Mr Sunak will say.
Earlier this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) recommended the use of semaglutide, sold under the brand name Wegovy, for adults with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of at least 35 and one weight-related health condition – such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Other drugs are currently under consideration in clinical trials.
Pharmacists were originally expecting to begin receiving supply of Wegovy last month, but the launch of the drug has been delayed indefinitely amid fears supplies will not match soaring demand. The once-a-week injections contain semaglutide, a hormone-mimicking drug that tricks the body into thinking it is full, prompting people to eat less and lose weight.
When prescribed alongside diet, physical activity and behavioural support, people taking a weight-loss drug can lose up to 15 per cent of their body weight after one year, clinical trials have shown. Taking them as part of a weight-loss plan can help people lose weight within the first month of treatment.
Obesity is one of the leading causes of severe health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, and it costs the NHS £6.5bn a year. There were more than a million admissions to NHS hospitals in 2019-20 where obesity was a factor, according to latest available data.
Using the latest treatments to tackle obesity will contribute to cutting waiting lists by reducing the number of people who suffer from weight-related illnesses, who tend to need more support from the NHS and could end up needing operations linked to their weight – such as gallstone removal or hip and knee replacements.
The £40m pilots will explore how approved drugs can be made safely available to more people by expanding specialist weight management services outside of hospital settings. This includes looking at how GPs could safely prescribe these drugs and how the NHS can provide support in the community or digitally – contributing to the Government’s wider ambition to reduce pressure on hospitals and give people access to the care they need where it is most convenient for them.
Mr Sunak will say: “Obesity puts huge pressure on the NHS. Using the latest drugs to support people to lose weight will be a game-changer by helping to tackle dangerous obesity-related health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer – reducing pressure on hospitals, supporting people to live healthier and longer lives, and helping to deliver on my priority to cut NHS waiting lists.”
The Government says the plan is the latest action in tackling soaring obesity rates. More than a quarter of adults in the UK are obese and a further 38 per cent are overweight but not obese, according to national estimates. The launch of slimming drugs has prompted people desperate to get hold of them to turn to the black market, i discovered in April.
Other Government initiatives to tackle obesity have included introducing calorie labelling on menus and restrictions on the location of unhealthy foods in shops, which are expected to bring health benefits of over £57bn and provide NHS savings of over £4bn over the next 25 years.
Last year, the Government announced £20m for the Office of Life Science’s Obesity Mission, which aims how best to utilise promising medicines and digital technologies to help NHS patients achieve a healthy weight.
Tam Fry, chair of the national obesity forum, told i: “It is, of course, very welcome that money is being put into a trial. But the announcement is staggering. Two years ago Boris Johnson announced that £100m would be spent expanding weight loss services outside hospitals but then cancelled it within a year.
“This chopping and changing policy regarding policy is a mess and this is another example of how badly the Government is tackling obesity. The calculated ‘savings’ for the NHS have the air of a work of fiction and, simply, are a minuscule amount in helping the NHS’s budget.”
