Labour should invest in weight loss medications immediately

[HowToSaveTheNHS]

AIBU to think the Labour government should seriously consider rolling out weight loss drugs to the obese population, to tackle obesity, diabetes and cut NHS waiting lists? Traditional public health measures to tackle obesity are not working.

We spend so much money treating disease associated with obesity and it’s only going to get worse as increasing numbers of people are living for decades with multiple health conditions associated with obesity. Even dementia’s leading cause is Type 2 diabetes.

Looking at the Mounjaro thread on here, huge numbers of Mumsnetters are successfully losing weight and improving their health. But people on lower incomes won’t have access because the drugs are expensive.

A course of drugs for a year will surely be money well spent if we can reduce heart disease/ diabetes/ dementia/ cancer etc… even hypertension.

You do not need a gym membership to be active. That’s a ridiculous excuse. Go for a walk, go for a run, do some vigorous housework, google a home exercise video. It’s not rocket science.

Obesity costs taxpayers untold billions, and there seems to be a solution worth trying. I genuinely don’t understand the reticence in prescribing the bloody stuff.

There are approx. 50M adults in the UK. Approx. 26% of us are obese. There are some people who qualify in the overweight category because of pre-existing health conditions or other reasons. For simplicity, let's say there's a potential demand such that 13M people would qualify for the weight loss injections at a cost to the NHS of £130 per person, per month (cost of injection, education for self-injection, plus follow-up, blood tests, scans etc. (I've made up these figures)).

Setting aside the issue that I doubt the manufacture and distribution could be ramped up to these levels that quickly, that's NHS expenditure of £169,0000000 per month. Or, £1,560 per person, per 12 months (assuming the month is 4 weeks?).

Any savings to the health budget would be over time, for a fairly substantial short-term cost.

Diabetes type 2 and all the associated conditions are a substantial cost to the NHS so a reduction in that would be enormously helpful to the NHS as well as the people affected by it. I don't know how rapidly those savings would show up?

Any health economists on the thread?

The answer to the obesity problem is to not get fat in the first place.

Offering a quick fix will only make the problem worse

By adequately treating obesity, prior to the development of disease, the NHS would save billions. Obesity is linked to many cancers, type II diabetes (which can lead to retinopathy/nephropathy/neuropathy), heart disease, Alzheimer's...

I agree that these medications should not be handed out to all that request them, without MDT support/patient education etc, but they should be more widely available as part of a nationwide initiative to treat obesity - which will pay for itself in the long run.

There should also be a push to improve the nation's diet and exercise.

Sounds expensive? It is - but if successful, it will pay for itself.

In terms of "we don't know the long term problems from this medication" - we have approx 18years of data on humans. It's true that we don't have longer than that. We do however have ample evidence of the risks both short term and long term of obesity and any risks of the medication need to be offset against them.

"People will put the weight back on". Maybe. That's why we need an MDT approach to patients using the medication and patients will likely be on a maintenance dose for life. The Surmount trial followed individuals on Tirzepatide plus diet/exercise Vs those with diet and exercise only using a placebo. The Tirzepatide arm were down 20% of their internal weight by 6 years compared to 3% with placebo - large trial, double blinded.

As people have mentioned on this thread, the evidence suggests that people who try to do it alone with diet and exercise will likely put it all back on by 5 years.

But you ARE paying to treat the obese population who have diabetes, heart attacks etc. So I can’t see the logic in that argument… prevention is cheaper

The poverty argument doesn’t really make sense when you look at world obesity rankings. There are countries with similar economies to us that have far lower obesity rates and most of the countries with lower rates of obesity have a much higher number of people living in poverty.

Or they could invest in mental health/addiction services which cause huge knock on effects e.g people are off sick longer, need benefits, lead to other health issues etc. This isn't me bashing mental health by the way I mean it's something hugely ignored and would make a massive impact to people and society all around if addressed. These weight loss drugs primarily only work if you stay on them and can also cause long term effects. You also have to want to lose weight, you need to work alongside the drug I believe, which many won't.

This is possibly the nastiest comment on a thread full of nastiness.

Weight gain can be hormonal. My doctor confirmed this to me.

My god no, what an appalling idea. There’s no data on long term effects, and doesn’t mean people are any healthier. The government needs to label junk, alcohol snd ultra processed food the same way as cigarettes, and put a massive tax on them, and use this to reduce cost of healthy food. And incentives for active lifestyle.

Weight loss medication is not going to work without dietary changes, exercise and general adjustment to lifestyle. They work mostly by suppressing appetite but that's useless unless what you do eat is nutritionally balanced

People often cooking with minimal facilities too.

They are available on the NHS if you meet the criteria. I don’t agree everyone should have access as I think it’s more complicated than that.

My daughter is just about to start Semaglutide as she is classed as obese. She is on alot of hormonal medication which can make weight loss difficult and she also has suspected hypothalamic obesity as she had a brain tumour which damaged both her pituitary gland and hypothalmus. We have tried eating healthily, we make sure she is active but her weight isn’t going down and I’m worried about her having more long term health conditions.

Her endocrinologist is going to do monthly blood tests (for liver function due to the risk of gallstones) and we can only get the medication through the hospital pharmacy. When I asked about what she would do to maintain any weight loss the answer was she would be on a low dose forever. I appreciate she is a lot more complicated than most people taking it but I wouldn’t want to take it without being closely monitored personally.

Funny my doctor said weight gain be hormonal to a certain extent but if you gain several stone that's difficult to do without over eating.

This was said in response to my concerns about weight gain when starting the contraceptive pill. She said hormonal weight gain doesn't account for several stone.

You can blame anyone or anything you like but the very over weight need to put some effort in. You can't solve weighloss by injecting a drug. You all seem determined to do anything you can but eat less.

Cafes need to stop selling huge slices of cake. And hot chocolate with masses of whipped cream and chocolates on top.

Have simple buns for kids for example.

Well there are a proportion of the population that are overweight because of medical conditions. However at the most this is what 10% of the population?
Given that 60% of the population is overweight that would suggest that yes 50% of people are lazy and can’t be bothered.

Are those of you against funding these medications also against funding statins? The causes are also mainly due to lifestyle

It is thought that these could have a significant impact on public health for very little cost in future… much like statins

You don't have to buy it. Or once a month won't do any harm.

You can buy a normal unsweetened coffee and share the cake with a friend.

Hormones drive your body to seek out food and over consume calories. Your doctor is correct

I don't have a full opinion on the value of statins but the generic statins are comparative buttons at between £1-2 per person, per month.

https://www.leedsformulary.nhs.uk/docs/2.12statincosts.pdf

Of course- that’s exactly what most people on this medication are doing!

No because my mother was underweight all her life and yet had high cholesterol. Its was another condition and so she was on statins.

As for cost Atorvastatin Tabs 20mg 28 are normally between £0.25 and £0.50, Rosuvastatin Tabs 20mg 28 between £0.50 and £1.00, and Pravastatin Tabs 20mg 28 between £1.00 and £2.00

It's pennies. Ozempic is hugely expensive per dose.

Stop being obtuse.

I know I don’t but I have children and when they want a treat in a cafe it’s me against the whole of our shitty culture.

Probably not

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80ew38gkdxo

Just be firmer with your kids. NO !

When my mother said no I didn't ask again I knew not to.