Pharmacies warn of unsustainable demand for weight loss medication
Many more patients are interested in using weight loss medication than are actually suitable for treatment, according to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which represents more than 6,000 independent community pharmacies.
Some 21% of people who were interviewed in a NPA-commissioned poll agreed they had attempted to access weight loss treatments in the last year, either online or in person at a pharmacy, rising to 35% of 16 to 34-year-olds.
This is compared to only 7% of those over 55.
There were also 41% who agreed they would opt for weight loss treatments on the NHS if they were made available to them.
This figure rose to 64% among 25 to 34-year-olds, despite many of these patients being unlikely to be clinically eligible.
The NPA says the poll, in which 2,002 people were interviewed, reflects an increasing demand for private and NHS weight loss services.
NPA chairman Olivier Picard said: 'Weight loss jabs are one of the biggest drug innovations this century, but growing demand for weight loss treatment highlights the need to make sure this is appropriate for those who want it.
'It's clear from this polling that many more people are interested in getting weight loss jabs than would actually be suitable for treatment.
'We want to make sure supplies are carefully managed so that those in most clinical need can benefit from weight loss medication.'
Spiralling demand, fuelled partly by social media, could see people being tempted to resort to unregulated online suppliers instead of regulated pharmacies staffed by medical professionals, they fear.
Online suppliers may not be offering weight loss jabs alongside a structured programme aimed at helping them change their behaviour.
Wegovy and Mounjaro are among a number of drugs that are recommended to help tackle obesity on the NHS.
Mounjaro and Wegovy are licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for use in patients with a BMI of over 30 or between 27 and 30 but with a weight-related co-morbidity. This occurs when an individual who has obesity develops another medical condition due to their weight.
The NHS currently rolls out Mounjaro to patients with a BMI of over 40 and at least four co-morbidities, the NPA says.
The NPA is calling for new regulations to protect patients buying weight loss medication online, so there is a full two-way consultation and all relevant historical medical records are reviewed before the treatment is prescribed.
They are waiting for more details about the role pharmacies could play in the rollout of the NHS weight management programme.
At least 85% of weight loss medication prescriptions were made by pharmacies in April this year, the NPA estimates.
Mr Picard said: 'Pharmacists are experts in medication and many have extensive experience delivering weight loss injections as part of a package of care, including lifestyle advice.
' Pharmacies are well placed to help roll this treatment out on the NHS, and help people make the best use of these powerful medicines.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
UK has got ‘fat' on decades of women's unpaid labour
Jess Phillips says that the UK has grown "fat" on the unpaid labour of women, a practice she deems "fundamentally sexist". The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls argued that the nation has depended on women's charitable contributions for decades. That had led to a reluctance from the government to provide services itself, she said. Ms Phillips, the MP for Birmingham Yardley, expressed her disdain for her own job title, saying that safeguarding against gender-based violence should be "business as usual in every single government department". She also suggested that other government departments tend to view violence against women and girls as exclusively a Home Office responsibility. Ms Phillips said she had struggled to elevate the safety of women and girls to a "mainstream concern", which had not always made her "popular as a government minister". Asked what pushback she had received from ministers or civil servants, she said: 'People directly say things like, 'That's the Home Office's job'. 'Why is it my job to do healthy relationship education in schools? Why is it my job to provide mental health support for whatever reason it is that you ended up in that [situation]?' 'Do you know what it is? Free labour of women is where it comes from. 'It comes from a fundamentally sexist place in that women didn't have these services, so a load of women across the country got together and made these services and offered them to other women for free, and they didn't get paid for their labour. 'So they put down a mattress and made a refuge. They set up counselling services and got people who were trained to be therapists and got their voluntary hours and set it up for free.' Ms Phillips said people do not recognise how 'heavily' the UK has relied on women providing support that previously did not exist, which has suggested an impact on the willingness of government to provide these services. She added: 'Nobody offered diabetes medicine for free. Pharmaceutical companies didn't go, 'Wow, this is really important. People will die without this. We'll just give it away for free'. 'That is what the women in our country did in the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s and we got fat on that expectation that that service will be provided for free. 'And we also belittled it as an issue that wasn't absolutely, fundamentally mainstream to the safety and security of our nation. 'Undoing that is really hard and it's going to take a long time.'
The Independent
42 minutes ago
- The Independent
300 sick Gazan children to be brought to UK for free medical care
Hundreds of seriously ill children from Gaza are set to be evacuated to the UK for treatment by the NHS under a new plan. Up to 300 young people will receive free medical care under the scheme, expected to be announced within weeks. The initiative comes amid a severe malnutrition crisis in Gaza, where health authorities report 92 children have died from hunger-related causes. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer previously pledged to evacuate badly injured children, and over 100 MPs have signed a letter supporting the scheme. The plan will run in parallel to the privately funded Project Pure Hope, which has so far facilitated medical visas for only three children from Gaza. Hundreds of sick children from Gaza to be evacuated to UK for critical NHS treatment
BBC News
42 minutes ago
- BBC News
London HIV charity Positively UK could close over funding crisis
A London-wide HIV charity has said it could be forced to close if the funding crisis it is facing UK, which has supported people with HIV for almost 40 years, has already closed its pan-London gay men's peer support group after being unable to secure funding for its Petretti, CEO said: "The support we give is very emotional. However, most of the time we have very short-term funding. From one year to another, we never know if we're going to be around."The government said it was "fully committed" to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030 and that its upcoming HIV Action Plan would focus on prevention and testing, as well as living well with HIV. According to the National Aids Trust, 2023 was the highest year for people receiving HIV care, with 107,949 treated - an increase of 27% across the last 10 Petretti said: "HIV is not over. We have treatment for HIV, but we don't have a treatment for stigma yet.""Positively UK has existed since the 1980s," she added. "We're going to be 40 next year and I am worried that our services may not be there for people in the future because of the lack of funding."We finished the year in the deficit and one of the most important services for us, the gay men's project, had to stop. In the past two years we applied to nine different funds and we couldn't secure any funding for the project." Phil Dehany started attending the support group four years after he was diagnosed with HIV in 2016."I live by myself here in London and it can be lonely," he said. "Those opportunities to meet up with people once a month were a lifeline."I would go as often as I could, and it's one of those things that you don't miss until it's gone, and I wish now that I'd gone a lot more often.""It was really sad when the project came to an end - straight away you've just lost that connection to that community."Mr Dehany said he now uses a range of other voluntary organisations, but fears that if funding struggles continue, those who need support, including elderly people living with HIV, will suffer. 'Nothing to replace that service' The voluntary and community sectors that offer support services for people living with HIV have faced big cuts in the last decade, the National Aids Trust said.A report by the charity found 71% of London's HIV voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations had to either reduce staff numbers, close services, merge with other organisations or use cash reserves to cover operating costs in the last three 40% were concerned about their ability to deliver services over the next three Currie, CEO of the National Aids Trust, said: "There's a funding crisis going on within the sector across the UK."Statutory services have been massively reduced. It has really impacted on service provision. Services are either being cut completely or they are being reduced."Of Positively UK, he said: "There's just nothing to replace that service." The government recently pledged to end all new HIV diagnoses by Petretti said: "The government wants the UK to reach zero transmissions by 2030, but if people are not supported to stay well, we will not reach this goal."In June, the Local Government Association warned that sexual health services in England were grappling with "unprecedented pressure" and urged the government to carve out a 10-year strategy and invest more to deliver "expert, timely care".A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said its 10-year health plan focused on how local government could improve services for sexual health by making better use of funding and working more closely with the added: "We are fully committed to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030 and our upcoming HIV Action Plan will focus not just on prevention and testing, but also on helping people live well with HIV."They said more than £6m had been invested in the National HIV Prevention Programme and £27m of funding was announced in December. Additional reporting by Josef Steen, Local Democracy Reporting Service.
