It will cost the NHS twice as much to reject patients who want to take weight-loss drugs than it is currently spending on prescribing them, a poll of GPs suggests.
Earlier this year, the Health Service gave GPs the green light to begin offering the jabs Wegovy and Mounjaro, but only to a select group of obese patients who have specific underlying health conditions.
At present, 220,000 adults qualify for the drugs while, according to some estimates, 15million would benefit from them.
Now analysis suggests so many people are asking for weight-loss drugs that GPs are spending significantly more time rejecting prescription requests than granting them.
Private weight-loss jab provider CheqUp, which carried out the survey of 500 NHS GPs, claims this means that the NHS will spend the equivalent of £786million in GPs’ time on denying patients access to weight-loss drugs over the next year.
The appetite-suppressing drugs can help users lose up to a fifth of their body weight.
At present, only patients with a BMI of over 40 as well as four weight-related conditions – including diabetes and high blood pressure – can get the jabs on the NHS. But CheqUp claims its research shows that about 375,000 patients who do not meet the criteria are requesting them every week.
Based on a well-recognised estimate that a ten-minute GP appointment costs £39, the firm argues that, over the next 12 months, this will cost the Health Service nearly £800million. By comparison, the annual NHS weight-loss jab budget is £317million.
Analysis has suggested so many people are asking for weight-loss drugs (pictured, file photo) that GPs are spending significantly more time rejecting prescription requests than granting them
