Financial incentives for GPs to prescribe weight-loss drugs are \u2018a smokescreen\u2019 for a dire new general practice contract, DAUK\u2019s Dr Steve Taylor has told national radio listeners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Taylor, DAUK\u2019s GP co-lead, said tight NHS rules were preventing wider use of the drugs and not a reluctance by family doctors to prescribe them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u00a33,000 a year in bonuses to prescribe Mounjaro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking to Tom Swarbrick on LBC, Dr Taylor said the incentive payments were a distraction from an \u2018appalling\u2019 deal for general practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said: \u201cI don’t need any incentive to prescribe Mounjaro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe problem is that the access to it is limited by the NHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can only prescribe it if you’re morbidly obese and you’ve got four clinical conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Government has announced \u00a3485 million in extra funding for general practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, after adjusting for inflation, this is worth around \u00a385 million<\/a>, Dr Taylor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He told LBC listeners: \u201cSo we’re getting an extra \u00a31.50 per patient for this next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd then this was this news story was leaked out before the contract this afternoon, and I realised this is all politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is to make GPs look awful. That we are not prescribing Mounjaro to obese patients. Absolute rubbish,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n