NHS weight management care needs to be completely overhauled, say MPs who found poor access to a range of treatments, including drugs and surgery.
The Health and Social Care Committee said obesity should be treated as a long-term, managed condition like diabetes.
It called for the ‘unambitious’ slow pace of the roll out of tirzepatide (Mounjaro) to be ‘urgently reassessed’ using digital providers to speed up NHS access.
And it recommended a Modern Service Framework for obesity to set clear standards for delivery and accountability for weight management services.
An evidence-gathering session by the committee found that weight-loss services across the country are poorly designed and resourced.
In a report out today (Friday 23), the committee concluded that a two-tier system had emerged around GLP-1 medicines for which access is determined by ability to pay.
MPs also called for stronger efforts to tackle the black market in GLP-1 drugs with a review of the ability of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to crack down on illicit online sales.
The committee found that while behavioural interventions or bariatric surgery may be more appropriate for some people, these services aren’t sufficiently available across the country.
Rates of bariatric surgery are low compared to other countries such as France which carry out almost ten times as many procedures, the report said.
Service redesign should focus on better capacity across all treatment options, an improved, simplified, person-centred pathway, and better training for healthcare professionals.
The committee also noted that pathways are failing patients and if a weight loss treatment is not working for someone, they have to go back to their GP and start again rather than being offered an alternative.
Obesity costs the UK economy at least £74.3 billion per year but between 2007 and 2020, of the 1.8 million adults identified in primary care as living with overweight and obesity, only 3.13% were ever referred to any weight management programme.
Experts providing evidence told the committee that there are a range of evidence-based treatments and interventions available but poor implementation means they have not had an impact on obesity rates.
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