Financial incentives for GPs to prescribe weight-loss drugs are ‘a smokescreen’ for a dire new general practice contract, DAUK’s Dr Steve Taylor has told national radio listeners.
Dr Taylor, DAUK’s GP co-lead, said tight NHS rules were preventing wider use of the drugs and not a reluctance by family doctors to prescribe them.
He was responding to media reports ahead of the publication of the new contract, that GP practices in England were to be paid an average of £3,000 a year in bonuses to prescribe Mounjaro.
Speaking to Tom Swarbrick on LBC, Dr Taylor said the incentive payments were a distraction from an ‘appalling’ deal for general practice.
He said: “I don’t need any incentive to prescribe Mounjaro.
“The problem is that the access to it is limited by the NHS.
“I can only prescribe it if you’re morbidly obese and you’ve got four clinical conditions.
“I thought why is this part of the GB contract? And then I read the GP contract a bit later on, and I realised this is just a smokescreen because, actually, the GP contract is appalling.”
The Government has announced £485 million in extra funding for general practice.
However, after adjusting for inflation, this is worth around £85 million, Dr Taylor said.
He told LBC listeners: “So we’re getting an extra £1.50 per patient for this next year.
“And then this was this news story was leaked out before the contract this afternoon, and I realised this is all politics.
“This is to make GPs look awful. That we are not prescribing Mounjaro to obese patients. Absolute rubbish,” he added.
Listen to Dr Taylor’s interview in full on DAUK’s Instagram.
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