Labour should invest in weight loss medications immediately

I'm type 2 diabetic (genetic) and have had to dramatically overhaul my diet. I'm now off most of my medication.

It's called personal responsibility and too many people in this country lack it.

Or people could eat healthy food, and exercise?!

This will be the first of many undoubtedly. Some people are in for a surprise as Labour won't have a bottomless pit. I think Rachel will have a tight grip on the purse strings.

Bring back rationing.

??????? What on earth does vaping have to do with obesity?

one very effective treatment for obesity is these medications (outside surgery really the only reliable treatment). Obesity is a widespread problem which causes many public health problems. It’s easy enough to tell people to eat less but we’ve been doing that for decades and obesity is continuing to get worse.

I believe this is up to patients themselves. For the government to mandate that obese people take these drugs sounds like a dystopian nightmare to me.

Besides, I believe they have far bigger fish to fry. I'd say the housing crises is a far more pressing matter.

There are perfectly natural methods of weight loss, and past governments have invested in promoting them. People just don't like them. Which is fair enough - who relishes a gym session when you can shove another cake in your mouth and moan about being a victim of an obesogenic environment? Cake and victimhood - what's not to love? - is there a fashionable hashtag so I can parade my victimhood on social media?

At what point does personal responsibility come in to play?

This.

I used to be very overweight but I lost it and kept it off using “traditional” methods. I fundamentally changed my lifestyle, without feeling like I’m depriving myself.

There is enough information out there for people to do the same. I’d invest in education and support (because it’s not easy), rather than quick fixes which should be reserved for the most severe and serious cases.

Absolutely this. And refer parents who let their kids get fat to SS just as you would if you let a child get so skinny they were malnourished.

You mean you can't eat upfs at all? Or high sugar foods?

The right support is these drugs. All evidence shows that they are extremely effective. They also seem to lower heart disease (aside from the weight loss benefit).

What cancer drugs are people not getting on the NHS? The only ones I’m aware of are those which have very limited efficacy. That’s not the case with weight loss drugs.

obesity is one of the main causes of cancer together with heart disease and other ailments. If we treat it we could save a fortune

They should invest in better lifestyle programmes, not quick fix solutions which just produce other problems.

I'd rather make obese people pay for their own treatment. If someone is overweight through no fault of their own, then that's different. But people who just eat too much and refuse to exercise shouldn't be funded by the taxpayer. God, the sights you see are shocking. Just this morning I watched two young women coming out of Tesco with a huge tray of donuts – the sort people buy for a party or a work meeting. One girl ripped off the cellophane and they each took out a donut and stuffed it in their face on their way to the car. They were mid-20s and both at least three or four stone overweight. It's disgusting. Why should I pay for weight loss medication for people like that?

Treating obesity is done by consuming less calories than those used.
The solution starts with the person…I don’t like the term ‘patient’
I’d prefer the government to ban the sale & use of cigarettes & those vapey things before prescribing drugs with unknown long term side effects.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5108832-moun-june-ers-2024-continued

We have no idea about the long term effects of these medications. A short term reduction in some obesity related health issues but then possibly long term side effects? And if someone has exhausted all other weight loss attempts they’d have to be on these medications for life as otherwise they’d put the weight back on when they stopped ?

We need to stop over medicalisation of things like obesity solutions when there are other ways.

Or they could actually have policy that supports healthy living e.g support flexible working so people have time to excercise and cook nutritional meals, force large employers to have a gym/ offer gym subscriptions/have insight canteens providing healthy meals, invest in safe cycling infrastructure (especially around schools), improve school meals, regulate fast food and advertising, offer free counselling to people for food addictions or other eating disorders, build more leisure centres that are within walking distance of people, pay people a decent wage so they can afford healthy food and don’t have to bill up on carbs, cookery classes for different stages of life.

Times in my life when I have been healthiest and thinnest are when I have had more time at home and more agency to plan my own schedule. e.g when I was a student, when I was in maternity leave and when I worked from home. This meant I could more easily plan and cook meals and could control what food was in my immediate vicinity. I also had easier access to leisure and changing facilities in my local area.

I don't know why you think this. I suffered terribly when I had to go without medication a few months ago as the pharmacy couldn't get hold of any as it was out of stock everywhere. Every month the pharmacist has to ring round to find somewhere with stock.

If you don't believe me maybe you will believe Diabetes UK.

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about-us/news-and-views/our-response-serious-supply-issues-drugs-people-living-type-2-diabetes

There is pretty much no one who is able to have Mounjaro prescribed on the NHS and a massive waiting list for wegovy.

people go through a whole pointless referral to weight management services that takes years and is not effective.

These drugs could be prescribed by gps and monitored by practice nurses. It would be a game changer in respect of public health in the uk.

as I said previously there is no evidence that weight gain after losing on these drugs is more common than without them (in fact the opposite). People who diet without these drugs put the weight back on in 95% of cases. Do we just ignore obesity?

This.
Labour should invest in interventions that work long term.

This is why the money would be better spent on investing in mental health - it would help with a whole raft of issues, not just obesity.

I just don't believe that the NHS should be spending money on something that is for the most part, best solved by the patient with the right support.

There are cancer patients who can't get certain treatments on the NHS

I'm also formerly anorexic so somewhat absolutist in my belief that anything that suppresses your appetite, artificially, is probably quite bad for you in the long run.