So no extra funding for MH conditions or eating disorders just weight loss jabs!

Yes you are.

These jabs are here and available. They have potential to change people’s lives, make them healthier and save the NHS money.

You seem to believe they should ignore its existence and possible impact, because they don’t have enough cash for every condition. Why?

If a jab became available for people with anorexia that helped resolve lots of problems and helped people recover, would you say the NHs should not look at using it because they don’t have the money look into the causes of obesity and treat those people?

I don't know much about pep pills (amphetamines). Are they physically addictive (like needing to keep increasing dosage and/or physical withdrawal symptoms) or is it more psychological dependance?

They're still prescribed, I believe, for ADHD? So I assume they're considered safe enough in some circumstances, just no longer for weight loss.

Although, sleep deprivation is definitely a very bad side effect. In fact sleep deprivation can cause weight gain. I guess in the past people using pep pills dealt with that with sedatives/sleeping pills at bedtime.

Anyway I mentioned them because the poster mentioning her mum taking the pills reminded me that, whether a good idea or not, weight loss drugs are nothing new. Either on this thread or another thread yesterday, some posters were suggesting "in the past, nobody needed or took weight loss drugs". Except they did. Pep pills were very popular back in the day.

@Windchimesandsong amphetamines are incredibly addictive, I think that is one of the biggest issues with them. They can also give you high blood pressure and palpitations, very alert so you become sleep deficient. They were very effective for weight loss though.

@Beautiful3 When you say your mum used to take the pills, do you mean amphetamines? I know they were a popular appetite suppressant in the 1950s.

Wonder what the difference is re side effects, potential long-term effects, and effectiveness between the old 1950s appetite suppressant "bennies" versus these new weight loss drugs?

Well no the government don't really care about any people at all. People are resources (in that their work boosts productivity and income) or costs to an economy. The UK has a growing obesity rate that will cost the economy. Hence the plan to reduce the costs via these medications. Well to start with a trial to confirm the cost benefit ratio.

Quite. But God forbid those evil fatties get anything!
Not one, btw. Fat anyway. See username.
I notice the hard of thinking have flocked to assure OP she's right, though.

Because anti-obesity drugs are a relatively easy and cheap win with potentially massive returns in terms of the health of the nation. Obesity is a public health crisis and eating disorders are not. Mental health is, but there's no easy and cheap fix. At the end of the day it's a cost-benefit calculation, and the benefit to the health of the nation, and therefore the economy, of reducing the obesity epidemic using relatively cheap drugs far outweighs the costs.

If there was a magic injection that fixed mental health problems, and it was not being funded, then you would have a point. But sadly there isn't.

What other issues will we have, sorry?

The results do not change the fact that these medicines have been tested for a long long time.

Big pharma taking over

All the press is harping on about at the min is medicating people to within an inch of their lives. It makes me incredibly uncomfortable.

Weight loss injections are not a short term prospect. The reality is that people end up on them for life.

Who is winning with that approach? It's not the individual nor the NHS - because they will have other issues that come off the back of this. Yes it's been tested for diabetes for a fair while. Not for anything else to decide long term effects.

Is it not because

• Poor mental health is notoriously hard to treat, additional money is not necessarily going to improve outcomes at a population level.
• Obesity is fairly easy to treat with the new drugs and there’s a significant knock on effect of improved co-morbidities. It’s cheaper to issue Wegovy than to treat these co-morbidities once medicine, hospital treatment and disability benefits are taken into account.

If it “only” cost £175 per month to fix someone’s mental health issues with clear population level resolution of the problem then I’m sure the government would jump on it.

The investment is coming from the manufacturers not the government...

The suggestion that this research should not be done because SEDU waiting lists are so long is ludicrous. The zero sum thinking from OP and others makes me worry about people's lack of understanding and unwillingness to engage. The NHS has many problems. Therefore many things should be trialled to see if they work. This should not be difficult to comprehend.

And yes, the loathing for fat people that shines through all these threads is foul.

OP, the NHS has to do the maths even if you don’t’.

Someone taking a £175 weight loss jab is likely to lose weight that week. As in, an immediate result.

MH, ED, etc a much slower cost intensive regime.

Before the injections came out. The pills were very popular. My mum was on them. Like the injections the Dr tells you to avoid fatty foods. My mum like many others didn't listen and ended up on the toilet for hours every day, with diarrhoea. This was not teaching her how to eat better. When she came off them, she put it all back on. People with eating disorders need counselling and nutrition advice. Pills and injections aren't long term nor do they teach how to eat better.

@Gr3ySkies Lilly have made a huge investment in the UK. The deal was announced on Monday. It is going to bring money and jobs into the UK. The trial is clearly part of the deal. This really doesn't have very much to do with what Labour could come up with.

The NHS is in dire straits and it was never likely that any Government were going to fix that in 4 months. This is a trial funded by someone else. The media are busy whipping up hatred for the fat and the unemployed, just to get headlines. I understand your distress at the lack of help for so many health issues, but this particular trial will not be removing anything from the NHS at the moment.

I think , with respect. As I understand what you’re going through, have possibly misunderstood the nuance between tn4 article and what’s being said.

these drugs will be available via weight management services, which are over subscribed due to the obesity epidemic. Another 3000 people trying to join the queue and go through this is impossible without extra support in this arena.

this doesn’t mean that they think longer term it won’t save the nhs billions. They are pointing out the immediate issue. Which is very different.

does this make sense? If you think about it logically. If you get people on these drugs, then after several months they no longer need the service. They don’t need beds or drugs for knee replacements, for heart attack, cancer decreases, blood pressure meds. It all goes down. But it takes time.

and you need the resources to get people on the drugs. To prescribe them, to support the patient.

what people are telling uou is mid to long term this is a life saver, a cost saver, in the billions. Short term though the government needs to invest and direct resources to implementing.

OP, you have missed the key point: cost/benefit to the taxpayer. We need to do the right thing by the NHS as a whole.

£175 a month, administered by the outpatient themselves, is cheap at the price of it brings the nation’s weight down and health up. Of course we should be looking at that. And it isn’t a ‘sticking plaster’ - the jabs bring actual real benefit.

MH, inpatient, repeat stays, etc. of course needed. But it would be crazy if the government/taxpayer ignored the massive potential win of the jabs.

This is about money, big pharma and the influence they have on government spending. There's so much money to be made. Look at the fight that was involved in getting the sugar in drinks reduced. The government would do better in reducing the additives in some foods that makes them addictive. Encourage sporting activities for young people, improving nutrition in schools, ban fast food outlets in the vicinity of schools, prevent weight gain in the first place.

@Gr3ySkies a recent research paper estimates that Type 2 diabetes cost the NHS £14 billion in the year 2021-22. That is in just ONE year. https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2024/research/diabetes-cost-to-uk/#:~:text=Diabetes%20cost%20the%20UK%20almost,indirect%20costs%20of%20the%20disease. The main cause of Type 2 diabetes is obesity.

The trial that you are referring to is not even going to be Government funded it will be funded by Lilly, the drug maker.

There are massive problems with the NHS, but I honestly don't think that this trial is where your ire should be targetted.

These threads over the last few days are hilarious with each OP frothing and self righteous at the fatties, presenting ludicrous illogical arguments over and over again.

Very entertaining.

Did you read the article? They are not concerned about the cost, they are saying that we need even more money invested into offering these jabs to wider population. Which is not a position you agree with so I don't see how you can present this article as an argument to support your view.

It will save a fortune if it becomes a line of treatment

Obesity in and of itself kills more people than EDs do, but within the group of the obese are also people with EDs as well, or dont you know this?

Its not tied to unemployment at all.