Thousands denied weight loss jab due to slow NHS rollout – with some having to wait two years
Thousands of people with severe obesity are being denied access to effective treatment because the NHS rollout of the weight loss jab Wegovy is happening far more slowly than planned, research by Sky News shows.
Freedom of Information requests reveal that just 800 people had been prescribed the drug through hospital weight-loss services by the end of April – despite estimates by the Department of Health that 13,500 should have started treatment by then.
Sky News spoke to several patients who have been denied the jab on the NHS.
Ken Pollock is in severe pain from osteoarthritis, but has been denied Wegovy
One was told there was no prospect of treatment, despite needing to lose five stones (32kg) before surgeons are prepared to go ahead with a double knee transplant.
Dr Robert Andrews of the University of Exeter, who has run clinical trials of new obesity drugs, said access was a “postcode lottery”.
He said: “As a doctor, you go into the profession to try and help people.
“But we are unable to offer treatment to everyone who could benefit. And that’s really difficult.
“Money follows for other illnesses, but it doesn’t for this illness. And that’s really a form of bias.
“Seeing that within the NHS is soul destroying.”
The NHS used a text message to tell Ken Pollock it couldn’t offer him Wegovy
Under guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) specialist weight-loss clinics in England and Wales should have started prescribing Wegovy in December last year.
The NHS cost-effectiveness authority said that people with a body mass index (BMI) over 35 and at least one related condition such as high blood pressure were eligible for treatment.
But Sky News asked Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), which commission local NHS services, whether they made the drug available through tier-3 weight-loss clinics in local hospitals.
By the end of April, only 14 of 42 ICBs had done so, and they imposed extra rules to restrict access – such as only offering it to patients in life-threatening situations, including those who need to lose weight ahead of cancer surgery or organ transplants.
Dr Robert Andrews of the University of Exeter said access to Wegovy was a ‘postcode lottery’
In all, just 838 patients in England had been treated by then – a little over 6% of the 13,500 that NICE expected to be on Wegovy.
Ken Pollock, who weighs 25 stone and is in severe pain from osteoarthritis, has been denied NHS treatment with the drug.
He’s been told he must lose five stone before surgeons will go ahead with a double knee replacement that would allow him to exercise. At the moment he struggles to even climb the stairs.
But the hospital weight-loss clinic told him by text that there was a two-year wait to be seen and it was “unable to offer medication”.
“It’s so shocking,” he said.
“I considered going private. But I thought ‘no, I’ve paid into the NHS all my life’. So I’m stuck in a kind of loop and I don’t know what’s next.”
Dr Robert Andrews (L) has run clinical trials of Wegovy
Studies show people lose on average 15% of their body weight within months of starting treatment with Wegovy. The drug mimics a natural hormone and people feel fuller faster and for longer.
Dr Jonathan Hazlehurst, an NHS obesity specialist in Birmingham, but speaking in a personal capacity, said the findings by Sky News confirm research that he and others have done on poor access to treatment.
“My concern is that there are so many people that could benefit, but increasingly the systems are not in place to provide this care,” he said.
“Those able to pay for treatment can access it, but many more are left untreated or on long waiting lists for overstretched services that are not resourced to meet patients’ needs.
Sally Hardwicke pays £160 per month to buy Wegovy privately
“The availability of effective medications for obesity should be viewed as an opportunity to improve health but to realise this potential will require a significant funding investment.”
Obesity costs the NHS £6bn a year and is linked to 200 different diseases.
Half of all obese people with three related problems, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, will be dead within 10 years.
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Sally Hardwicke decided to buy Wegovy privately after being turned down for NHS treatment, despite meeting the NICE criteria.
She has to ring around pharmacies to find a supply, which costs her roughly £160 a month. But she says the drug is well worth the money.
“I never used to feel full. I could eat a very big meal and still want more,” she said.
“Now my food is on much smaller plates and nine times out of 10 I don’t even finish what I’ve got.”
Sally said she had tried countless diets to try to lose weight, but the effect was short-lived.
“Even my boss said ‘why would you want to be putting that drug in your body?’ Because I’m desperate,” she said.
A spokesperson for NHS England said: “While specialist weight management services – which are required to prescribe this particular treatment – are commissioned based on local priorities, the NHS provides a wide range of support which is helping hundreds of thousands of people lose weight and live healthier lives.
“We are committed to working with the government, industry and experts to ensure that new treatments can be rolled out safely, effectively and affordably.”
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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