Mounjaro for all! Will Wes Streeting’s plan for weight loss jabs on the NHS really work?

It slipped through, broadly unacknowledged. But it’s a piece of thinking that could bring major ramifications for how Britain lives.

You’ve probably already forgotten much of what was declared at the Labour Party annual conference in Liverpool. That’s understandable. You have a life to live, pets to de-worm, small jobs about the place to put off. 

Conferences are curious happenings. Members of the main parties gather, frequently in seaside towns and cities, to listen to speeches about why they are how they are, and why they need to be better at it/prouder of it. 

There might be a few interesting fringe events and debates and photo-ops. Political journalists hear things in bars. Then leaders make stirring keynotes and people stand up and down applauding an awful lot. Quite the jolly.

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While much of what Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said was taking aim at Reform, his announcement about a shiny new online health service to cure many ills was the takeaway headline. But he said something much more seismic. He suggests weight-loss jabs could be available to millions on the NHS. He’s made similar noises before. 

At present, these weight-loss drugs are widely available through pharmacists, but expensive to patients. They vary somewhat in price but all well over £100 for the basic dose. 

Asda Online Doctor, for instance, lists Mounjaro starting at £168.97 for four doses. This covers a month. That’s at a basic level so can rise according to need.

Streeting believes the cost is a barrier that makes it, essentially, a two-tier health system – one for the haves and one for the have nots.

Read more:

• The NHS is facing an existential crisis. Can Labour’s 10-year plan really save it?
• Labour promised to reduce health inequality – here’s how they can deliver
• Nutrition is not always a lifestyle choice. It’s harder to be healthy if you live in the North

“The wealthy talk about how they’ve transformed their health, their confidence, their quality of life. But
what about the millions who can’t afford them? 

“That is a return to the days when health was determined by wealth. When some had access to the best care money can buy, while others waited and suffered. And I say: never again,” he said, insistently.

The exact cost is unknown. It had previously been announced that some jabs will be available to more people on the NHS in England over the next three years. 

But due to Donald Trump’s tariff jiggery-pokery, costs of Mounjaro have risen steeply in recent times. It’s unclear where they’ll settle. 

To expand from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands would put much more pressure on a creaking NHS.

An argument can be made that this is an investment in the future. If it was prescribed, costs to treat diseases related to obesity and excess weight – like type 2 diabetes and heart conditions – would drop. 

It could dramatically, and quickly, improve the lifestyle and outcomes of many people. Some in government will start to talk about the potential for improving productivity in work and moving some people from long-term sick.

This is laudable. But it doesn’t seem sustainable. It doesn’t deal with underlying issues, around diet, income and other socio-economic factors that can contribute to obesity. 

The ongoing questions about lasting effects of weight-loss jabs also remain unanswered. 

Maybe Wes Streeting will see his plan change Britain for good. It would certainly be popular. The government could do with any positive goals they can score.

It’s symptom not the cause, though. And that eventually is going to come unstuck.

Paul McNamee is editor of the Big Issue.Read more of his columns here. Follow him on X.

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