Millions of Brits cannot get jabs like Mounjaro and Wegovy due to 'postcode lotteries'

Millions of adults cannot get slimming jabs on the NHS because of a "postcode lottery", experts have warned.

Parts of England are now deserts for drugs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy, figures show. Health officials are now being urged to even out the distribution across the country as approximately 28% of UK adults are now categorised as obese, according to a Healthy Survey for England.

Patients unable to get the jabs through the NHS have to fork out hundreds of pounds each month to obtain the injections privately. Many of these live in the so-called "fat jab deserts," which include North Tyneside and North Lincolnshire. In the latter, there were 2,445 prescriptions for GLP-1 injections – the umbrella term for the hunger-fighting drugs - in June alone. That equated to 1,250 prescriptions for every 10,000 obese adults, analysis suggests.

And in North Tyneside, there were just 265 prescriptions for every 10,000 obese adults. in the same month. The drugs need to be taken on a weekly or daily basis, so one prescription for semaglutide or tirzepatide – the two game-changing drugs recently approved in Britain – should last for four weeks.

But there has been a delay in dishing GLP-1 drugs out, due to cost and fears GP practices would be overwhelmed, and so hundreds of thousands of obese people have had to go without – or, if they can afford to, pay privately. High street pharmacists charge up to £200 a month for treatment.

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Professor Nick Finer, who has published more than 200 papers in the field of obesity, said: "It is truly a postcode lottery. To me, it's quite extraordinary that the health service has been so slow to deliver the drugs to people who need them."

Ministers want to accelerate the roll-out, with Keir Starmer having said GLP-1s "could be very important for our economy". Health Secretary Wes Streeting has suggested the medications might be used to get obese unemployed people back to work, comments for which he faced criticism last year.

But the new data lays bare the real "fat jab deserts" which, in addition to North Tyneside and North Lincolnshire, include southeast London and Northumberland. Conversely though, Castle Point and Rochford in Essex, as well as Leicestershire and Rutland, had some of the most sweeping roll-outs.

Nationwide, around 400,000 GLP-1 prescriptions were issued in June, according to the Daily Mail. Prof Finer worries the health service has not yet got the supply or infrastructure to meet this rising demand, particularly in the likes of North Tyneside.

"If you have heart problems or cancer, there will be a treatment centres all over the country. But the same level of universal service is not being provided for obesity. These drugs also reduce mortality from heart disease and cancer, so they are lifesaving in that respect," the expert continued.

His fears are echoed by Professor Nerys Astbury, a researcher in diet and obesity at the University of Oxford. She said: "As the number of people living with obesity continues to increase, there are likely to be challenges in implementing services to meet the increasing demand for these treatment options in the future.

"This may be particularly felt in the already overstretched primary care sector, where GPs may feel that they do not have the capacity to cope with potentially increased demand."

An NHS spokesperson said: "Weight loss drugs have a vital role to play in helping many more people manage their weight and lead healthier lives, and the NHS is developing and rolling out a range of lifestyle support that will be available locally and online to ensure they can be prescribed by GPs as part of holistic care.

"The NHS is fully supporting the phased rollout of tirzepatide (Mounjaro) for eligible patients, having issued guidance in line with the NICE guidance, and provided funding to local ICBs (integrated care boards) to support patient care in March 2025.

"These represent brand new services in primary care that are being established and scaled up over time, starting with those who are in the most need – and in the meantime, eligible patients can get weight loss support from a range of other services including the NHS Digital Weight Management programme."