Weight loss jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro could be handed out “on the high street, or at any out-of-two shopping centre”, the Health Secretary has said. Wes Streeting has unveiled a 10-year plan for the health service which includes a pledge to expand access to the transformative anti-obesity drugs.
Speaking about the jabs’ potential on Thursday, he hinted that many MPs were reaping the benefits. 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’.”
The Health Secretary outlined plans to work with industry “to test innovative models of delivering weight loss services and treatments to patients effectively and safely” in convenient locations, which may include “on the high street, or at any out-of-town shopping centre”.
And he said the drugs should be available according to need, not people’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.
Others are paying hundreds of pounds a month to get the jabs privately. Mr Streeting said: “If you can afford these weight loss jabs, which can be over £200 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.”
He added, however, that the jabs did not mean you could “stuff your face with Jaffa cakes” and would come alongside other interventions to help people be more active, a diet and nutrition support.