Overhaul NHS access to weight loss drugs and surgery, MPs urge

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By Emma Wilkinson

The NHS should “fundamentally reimagine” weight management services to widen access to a range of treatments, a committee of MPs has concluded.

Failure to provide consistent care for people with obesity is “indefensible”, the Health and Social Care Committee said as part of a report on modernising obesity treatment.

The committee also echoed concerns over the emergence of a two-tier system where GLP-1 medicines are only available to those who can pay privately as well, a failure of regulators to tackle black market versions and the “unambitious” roll out of Mounjaro on the NHS.

Yet the report found that access to other evidence-based approaches to weight loss are also patchy including bariatric surgery, the rates of which need to at least double, the committee concluded.

Obesity should be consistently defined as a “lifelong, relapsing and remitting condition requiring ongoing management”, the report said.

To drive drastic improvement in weight management services, the government should develop a modern service framework (MSF) for obesity, setting clear standards for delivery and accountability, the committee recommended.