NHS weight-loss jabs could soon be made available in shopping centres and on high streets across the country, under a new 10-year health plan aimed at expanding access to treatment.
The radical proposal comes as Health Secretary Wes Streeting revealed the injections were the “talk of the House of Commons tea rooms”.
The comprehensive plan for the health service outlines a clear need to bring weight-loss services and treatments closer to where people live and work.
It states the government will collaborate with industry to “test innovative models of delivering weight loss services and treatments to patients effectively and safely” in convenient locations, including “on the high street, or at any out-of-town shopping centre”.
Alongside physical locations, the strategy also suggests the implementation of “digital-only models,” where the entire process, from consultation to management, is handled online.
Crucially, the plan introduces a new payment structure for companies involved in delivering these services. They will not solely be compensated based on patients losing weight, “but if that also translates into outcomes that really matter for patients, such as fewer heart attacks, strokes or cancer diagnoses.”
Earlier, Mr Streeting emphasised that access to weight-loss jabs should be determined by medical need, not by a person’s ability to pay.
At the moment, people with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or more, or 30 but with a linked health condition, can be prescribed jabs on the NHS through specialist weight-management services.
Other people are paying hundreds of pounds a month to get the jabs privately.
Mr Streeting told LBC radio: “Weight-loss jabs are the talk of the House of Commons tea rooms, half my colleagues are on them and are judging the rest of us saying ‘you lot should be on them’.
“And the thing is, if you can afford these weight loss jabs, which can be over 200 quid a month, well that’s all right for you.
“But most people in this country haven’t got a spare two and a half grand a year and often the people who have the worst and most challenging obesity also have the lowest income.
“So I’m bringing to weight loss jabs the principle of fairness which has underpinned the NHS.
“It should be available based on need and not the ability to pay.
“And that’s what we’re going to do on weight-loss jabs, as well as a number of other things, including people getting more fit, more active, supporting people on diet and nutrition….that’s the bit of the weight-loss jab debate that sometimes gets lost.
“It’s not that you can have some weight-loss jabs and stuff your face with Jaffa cakes…”
He said obesity costs the NHS billions a year, adding that taxes have been going “up and up” to pay for the health service.
