Thousands of patients in England are unable to access NHS weight loss jabs, with fewer than half of local commissioning bodies prescribing Mounjaro.
Only 18 of the 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) have started prescribing the drug, two months after GPs were cleared to offer it on the NHS to 220,000 patients with “greatest need” over three years.
The figures point to a “postcode lottery” in NHS access, with about nine in 10 patients still paying privately for the medication.
Freedom of information requests by the British Medical Journal found few ICBs had been given enough funding for eligible patients. Only nine reported funding that could cover at least 70 per cent of those who qualify.
Mounjaro, also called tirzepatide and made by Eli Lilly, is a weekly injection that helps regulate blood sugar and appetite. It has led to significant weight loss in clinical trials.
Ellen Welch, co-chair of the Doctors’ Association UK, said: “These figures confirm the fear that the rollout is not fit for purpose.
“There is a huge discrepancy between national messaging and what patients are actually being delivered on a local level.”
Four ICBs told the BMJ their NHS funding covered 25 per cent or fewer of eligible patients.
Coventry and Warwickshire, for example, received funding for just 376 patients despite identifying 1,795 as eligible in year one.
The rollout began on 23 June.
In the first year, eligible patients include those with a body mass index (BMI) over 40 plus related illnesses such as high blood pressure, obstructive sleep apnoea, cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes.
Dr Jonathan Hazlehurst, consultant endocrinologist and academic clinical lecturer at the University of Birmingham, said the rollout was “significantly underfunded.”
He said: “That clearly drives up distress and uncertainty both in patients and primary care and runs the risk of inequity in access to treatment, and that’s my biggest concern.
“NHS England is talking about treating 220,000 patients in the first three years, but we can see that the initial funding for year one clearly only covers approximately 10 per cent of that.”
Prof Nicola Heslehurst, president of the Association for the Study of Obesity, said the data showed a “postcode lottery” in obesity care.
NHS England had planned a phased rollout over up to 12 years, but the figures suggest even currently eligible patients are struggling to obtain the jab.
The figures emerged days after health secretary Wes Streeting pledged to stop people being “priced out” of access.
He said he wanted greater NHS provision after Eli Lilly announced private price rises of up to 170 per cent in August.
NHS England said it was “fully supporting” the phased rollout for eligible patients and had provided funding to commissioning bodies in March.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it expected ICBs to make the drug available as part of the phased rollout “so those with the highest need are able to access them.”