{"id":1424,"date":"2025-09-13T11:53:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T10:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/weight-loss-treatment-demand-impacting-gps\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T11:53:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T10:53:17","slug":"weight-loss-treatment-demand-impacting-gps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/weight-loss-treatment-demand-impacting-gps\/","title":{"rendered":"DAUK in the media: Demand for NHS weight-loss treatment impacting GPs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DAUK co-chair Dr Ellen Welch provided commentary in the national media on the impact on GPs of the rollout of weight-loss treatment.\r\n\r\nDr Welch, a GP in the north west of England, was featured in national and regional news outlets and websites discussing Mounjaro \u2013 also known as tirzepatide.\r\n\r\nHer comments, initially in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/390\/bmj.r1855\">the BMJ<\/a>, drew attention to the postcode lottery of access and the pressure placed on GPs.\r\n\r\nDr Welch was responding figures obtained by the BMJ in a freedom of information request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mounjaro<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It found that fewer than half of England has access to Mounjaro through general practices.\r\n\r\nSome 18 of 42 commissioning bodies across the country confirmed they had started prescribing tirzepatide in line with NHS England\u2019s primary care roll-out plan.\r\n\r\nAnd that nine ICBs confirmed they had been allocated enough NHS funding to cover at least 70% of their eligible patients.\r\n\r\nDr Welch said: \u201cThese 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Weight-loss treatment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs a GP I get several queries a week from patients asking for GLP-1 RAs [glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists] to be prescribed for weight loss, and very few meet the strict NHS prescribing criteria.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe manufacturer of Mounjaro, Eli Lilly, has said it will increase the price of the drug by as much as 170%.\r\n\r\nDr Welch told the BMJ this was \u2018sure to lead many more patients to the door of their GP surgeries, where they will sadly be met with an inadequate service, even if they do meet the narrow criteria\u2019.\r\n\r\nHer comments have been widely reported including by <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/revealed-huge-shortfall-in-nhs-funding-for-weight-loss-jab-13424996\">Sky News<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2025\/sep\/04\/mounjaro-weight-loss-jabs-access-nhs-gp\">The Guardian<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/health\/36573710\/fat-jab-postcode-lottery-interactive-map\/\">The Sun<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/health\/nhs-rollout-weight-loss-jabs-35850361\">The Mirror<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/health\/mounjaro-nhs-eligibility-cost-access-b2820297.html\">The Independent<\/a>.\r\n\r\nDAUK committee members are all volunteers and speak to the media about issues facing frontline doctors in their own time. Please support our work by <a href=\"https:\/\/dauk.org\/membership\/\">joining DAUK<\/a> or donating to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-the-work-of-the-doctors-association-uk-dauk\">our GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DAUK co-chair Dr Ellen Welch provided commentary in the national media on the impact on GPs of the rollout of weight-loss treatment. Dr Welch, a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[324,304,23],"class_list":["post-1424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dauk-news","tag-dr-ellen-welch","tag-gp-committee","tag-gp-crisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}