Ray, 62 from south London, became one of the first patients to receive the weight-loss jab Wegovy on the NHS last year and has lost 14kg (just over two stone) in five months. BBC Panorama joined him as he was prescribed his first dose at London’s Guy’s Hospital, where he was told he would probably need to take the drug all his life to prevent him regaining weight. He said he felt “blessed” to be given the drug.
Being overweight is now the norm and nearly one in three adults in England is obese – double the rate of just 30 years ago. Obesity can be very bad for your health, and treating the complications from it is estimated to cost the NHS across the UK more than £11bn a year.
Wegovy and another drug called Mounjaro can help patients lose about 15 to 20% of their bodyweight, according to trials. That sort of weight loss can have a dramatic impact on health, and greatly reduce a patient’s risk of many conditions, from diabetes to cancer, joint problems and heart disease.
Out of more than 130,000 patients eligible for weight-loss drugs in south-east London, the Guy’s clinic reckons it can only see about 3,000. Prof Naveed Sattar, who leads the UK government’s Obesity Healthcare Goals programme, says if everyone eligible was given the drug right away “it would simply bankrupt the NHS”.
Nine out of ten people on weight-loss drugs are paying for them privately, says Prof Sattar. With smoking levels continuing to fall, he now regards excess weight and obesity as the “major driver, bar none, of long-term multiple health conditions”.
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