Thousands of NHS patients who could benefit from the weight-loss jab Mounjaro are missing out due to funding issues.
Less than half of commissioning bodies across England have started prescribing the drug on the NHS in line with health service guidance - with just 18 out of 42 starting the roll-out more than two months after it started nationally.
There are an estimated 3.4 million people who have a BMI over 40 or a weight-related medical condition such as type 2 diabetes who could benefit from weight-loss drugs - but the phased approach by the NHS means the drug is only available to those “with the highest clinical need” at this stage.
Currently, in the UK around 1.5 million people use weight-loss drugs, with the vast majority paying for them privately.
The lack of people prescribed with Mounjaro on the NHS “is another blow for people living with obesity who deserve evidence-based care to manage their health needs,” said Nicola Heslehurst, president of the Association for the Study of Obesity said. She highlighted a “postcode lottery” of who can access obesity care.
According to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), few integrated care boards (ICBs) have been allocated enough NHS funding.
It said only nine had the funding needed to cover at least 70 per cent of their eligible patients.
Four ICBs told the BMJ the NHS funding they had received covered just 25 per cent or less of their eligible patients. Coventry and Warwickshire fared the worst - only receiving funding to cover 376 patients despite identifying 1,795 people eligible for the first year roll out.
Experts are warning that the lack of funding and poor communication to the public about the roll-out are driving “distress and uncertainty both in patients and primary care” and have left ICBs in a difficult financial situation.
Birmingham and Solihull ICB claimed it received funding to cover just 52 per cent of its eligible patients.
In London just one out of the five ICBs - South West London - has started prescribing Mounjaro.
Notices urging patients not to contact their GP as they cannot provide these drugs have been posted by practices around the country, including in Suffolk and North East Essex - where funding for just 25 per cent of eligible patients has been provided.
Ellen Welch, Doctors' Association UK (DAUK) co-chair, says: “These figures confirm the fear that the roll out is not fit for purpose. There is a huge discrepancy between national messaging and what patients are actually being delivered on a local level.”
However, experts warn this underfunding will have a knock-on effect as the obesity crisis balloons, costing a staggering £107bn each year.
Jonathan Hazlehurst, lecturer at the University of Birmingham, said: “NHS England is talking about treating 220,000 patients in the first three years, but we can see that the initial funding for year one clearly only covers approximately 10 per cent of that.”
On Wednesday, Wes Streeting pledged to do more to prevent people being “priced out” of accessing weight-loss jabs.
The health secretary said he wanted more people to get the drugs on the NHS after the manufacturer of Mounjaro said it was putting up prices in the private sector.
Eli Lilly said in August it was putting up the list price of the drug by as much as 170 per cent.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We expect NHS Integrated Care Boards to be making these drugs, which can help tackle the obesity crisis, available as part of the phased rollout, so those with the highest need are able to access them.
“As we shift the focus from treatment to prevention through our 10-Year Health Plan we are determined to bring revolutionary modern treatments to everyone who needs them, not just those who can afford to pay.”
