Thousands of patients in England are unable to access weight loss jabs through their GP, figures reveal, with fewer than half of commissioning bodies prescribing Mounjaro (tirzepatide) two months after the NHS rollout began. Doctors warn the programme is 'not fit for purpose'.
Freedom of information requests by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) show that only 18 of 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) have started prescribing the drug, creating a 'postcode lottery' of access. Most patients—about nine in ten—are paying privately.
Funding shortages are acute: only nine ICBs received enough NHS cash to cover at least 70% of eligible patients. Coventry and Warwickshire ICB, the worst affected, got funding for just 376 patients despite identifying 1,795 eligible in the first year.
Dr Ellen Welch, co-chair of the Doctors' Association UK, said: 'These figures confirm the fear that the rollout is not fit for purpose. There is a huge discrepancy between national messaging and what patients are actually being delivered on a local level.'
Dr Jonathan Hazlehurst, consultant endocrinologist at the University of Birmingham, described the rollout as 'significantly underfunded', warning of 'inequity in access to treatment'. NHS England aims to treat 220,000 patients in three years, but year-one funding covers only about 10% of that.
The figures come days after Health Secretary Wes Streeting pledged to prevent people being 'priced out' of weight loss jabs, following Eli Lilly's announcement of up to 170% price rises in the private sector. NHS England said it is 'fully supporting' the phased rollout, and the Department of Health and Social Care expects ICBs to make the drug available to those with highest need.
