NHS weight loss services are failing to keep up with skyrocketing demand as referrals quadruple in some areas, an investigation has found. Experts have suggested a combination of higher obesity rates and more people seeking weight-loss jabs is fuelling the demand, according to the British Medical Journal. The investigation comes as leading doctors warned that patients are buying weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, online without proper “wraparound” care.
NHS England medical director Stephen Powis raised the alarm during a national healthcare conference this month over reports of people misusing the drugs as a quick fix to get “beach body ready.” Patients should be supported by specialist weight management services if prescribed weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic, guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence states. However, according to the BMJ, specialist services in seven out of 42 areas in England had to close to referrals because demand had exceeded the number of staff able to treat patients.
Nerys Astbury, associate professor of diet and obesity at the University of Oxford, described the availability of specialist weight management services as “unequal and very limited, or completely absent in some regions.” She told The BMJ that even where services do exist, “they are over-subscribed, waiting lists have been capped, or budgetary limitations mean services are at risk of being decommissioned.” Services in West Yorkshire,.