England’s slimming jab NHS postcode lottery laid bare: Map shows how obese people in some areas are FIVE times more likely to be on drugs like Wegovy and Mounjaro – so do YOU live in a fat jab capital or desert?

Millions of overweight adults cannot get slimming jabs on the NHS because of a ‘postcode lottery’, leading experts warned today.

Parts of England are now deserts for drugs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy, figures analysed by the Daily Mail show. 

Health officials are now being urged to even out the distribution across the country. 

Patients unable to get the jabs through the health service have to fork out hundreds of pounds each month to obtain the injections privately.

In North Lincolnshire, NHS figures for June show there were 2,445 prescriptions for GLP-1 injections – the umbrella term for the hunger-fighting drugs, which need to be taken on a weekly or daily basis. 

One prescription for semaglutide or tirzepatide – the two game-changing drugs recently approved in Britain – should last for four weeks.

That equated to 1,250 prescriptions for every 10,000 obese adults, analysis suggests.

In North Tyneside, the nation’s slimming jab black spot, the Mail found there were just 265 prescriptions for every 10,000 obese adults.

Access to the drugs is being slowly phased in by NHS spending watchdogs because of the pricetag, with supplies thought to cost around £3,000 a year per patient. 

Fears GP practices would be overwhelmed have also delayed the programme, which may take 12 years to reach all 3.4m people deemed eligible under current criteria. 

Sluggishness in dishing GLP-1 drugs out, however, has left hundreds of thousands of obese people having to go without – or, if they can afford to, pay privately. High street pharmacists charge up to £200 a month for treatment. 

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. 

Our audit of NHS statistics do not reveal whether the drugs were prescribed for type 2 diabetes or weight loss because they only cover the generic drug – not the branded version.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) rules say Mounjaro, Wegovy and Saxenda can be used as weight-loss treatments.

But Ozempic – which contains the same generic ingredient (semaglutide) as Wegovy but at a weaker dose – is only approved for type 2 diabetes.

Similarly, Saxenda and Victoza both contain liraglutide, but Saxenda is approved for weight loss and Victoza only for diabetes.

Nationwide, around 400,000 GLP-1 prescriptions were issued in June. 

The overwhelming majority were for tirzepatide (Mounjaro) and semaglutide. 

Other types doled out include exenatide (Bydureon and Byetta), dulaglutide (Trulicity) and lixisenatide (Suliqua).  

Exenatide was the first GLP-1 licensed in the UK in 2007 – but it was only available to diabetics.

The first to get the greenlight for weight loss was liraglutide (Saxenda) in 2017, before Wegovy in 2023 and Mounjaro in 2024.

Alongside North Tyneside, South-East London and Northumberland were highlighted as GLP-1 deserts.

Castle Point and Rochford in Essex, as well as Leicestershire and Rutland, had some of the most sweeping roll-outs, the same data showed. 

The statistics were broken down by sub-integrated care boards (ICBs) – small geographical areas responsible for delivering NHS care.

With so many patients meeting the criteria, which include having a BMI of at least 27.5 (the number depends on your ethnicity and the type of drug) and health problems due to your weight, care boards are prioritising patients who have multiple weight-related health complications.

This has driven an increase in private prescriptions, which aren’t covered by the NHS data and are now thought to make up 90 per cent of all GLP-1s dished out. 

This includes those overweight patients who don’t meet the strict NHS criteria.

Some patients have also tricked pharmacists into getting their supplies by filling in an online form and lying about their weight and height.

Professor Finer, of the World Obesity Federation, thinks the postcode lottery in NHS care is down to the ‘huge disparity in obesity services’ that each ICB provides.

He said: ‘They are not all providing obesity services which can prescribe the drugs, meaning patients have nowhere to go to get them.

‘There are areas of the country where there is basically no provision of specialist obesity services.’

To access the drugs through the NHS, most patients need to use a ‘Tier 3 weight-management clinic’ – a specialist service provided mainly in hospitals.

The only patients who qualify for these services are those with the most complex needs and who have already failed to lose weight through diet and exercise alone. 

However, the problem is that not all health boards possess the capabilities to deliver to everyone.

For instance, a recent report warned there are more than 130,000 eligible patients in South-East London but only enough weight-management places for 3,000. 

Professor Finer said: ‘Large areas of the country, particularly in the north of England, do not have the services required.

‘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 life-saving in that respect.’

Professor Jason Halford, of the World Obesity Federation, added: ‘Obviously, the cost is a real issue in the short term.

‘But as more drug treatments come online, these should decline and the Government really needs to prepare to roll this out at scale.’ 

Meanwhile, business is booming for private sector pharmacies as around 1.2million wealthy Brits are eagerly paying them for a supply of the drugs.

But experts at think tank the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change warn the rapid growth of the weight-loss drugs market, combined with the slow NHS rollout, has led to a ‘two-tier system’.

In a report in May, it said: ‘This is amplifying health inequalities. Obesity rates are already about 15 per cent higher in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas.’

‘And the arrival of these drugs – available predominantly to people who can pay – is only deepening those divides.’

It also warned that online pharmacies are not currently catering to some groups, such as those with learning disabilities or severe mental illness, who will require a far more personalised service. 

It comes as experts are now increasingly warning that the drugs are being overused by people for whom they are not designed or tested.

Doctors have long told how they are treating increasing numbers of slim women who end up in hospital after falsely telling online chemists they are overweight to pass eligibility checks.

Senior medics have even warned A&E units are treating casualties of the appetite-suppressing drugs on a daily basis.

UK law forbids the sale of such drugs without a prescription from a medical professional.  

GLP-1 injections work by tricking the brain into thinking it’s full, consequently slashing appetite and stopping users from overeating.

They have proved so popular that the US pharmaceutical giant that manufactures Mounjaro demanded a temporary UK-wide freeze on jab orders last month amid ‘unprecedented demand’.

It also announced the cost of the hugely popular drug would soar from September 1, with the wholesale price of a month’s supply of the highest dose rising from £122 to £330. 

In response, pharmacies were forced to issue a warning to patients to stop ‘Covid-style’ panic buying the drug.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘We understand that the current strict criteria for being prescribed weight loss drugs will be frustrating for patients who feel they could benefit from them. 

‘However, the phased roll out recommended by NICE and being implemented by NHS England is important in order to avoid general practice being overwhelmed by demand, and to ensure the roll out is safe, with appropriate training being delivered where necessary.

‘More widely, whilst weight loss medications have clear potential benefits for some patients who are struggling to lose weight, they shouldn’t be seen as a “silver bullet” to aid weight loss. 

‘Weight loss medication as a treatment for obesity must not come at the expense of other weight loss services, as what works for one patient will not work for another. 

‘We also need to see greater focus on prevention, stopping people becoming overweight in the first place so they don’t require a medical intervention later.’

However, experts hope the NHS rationing of the drugs will improve as more drugs start to hit the market.

There is intense competition in pharmacology to deliver more powerful and affordable versions of drugs, which could lead to price reductions in the coming years.

For instance, Novo Nordisk’s core patents on Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide) are due to expire in some parts of the world in 2026, which could reduce the price.

This could be helped by the fact that the NHS is usually very good at negotiating down the cost of medicines due to its large bulk buying power.

Professor Finer, who has previously worked for Novo Nordisk, said: ‘If you have a disease that affects 20-30% of the population, you have to start slowly and build up. That is probably realistic. 

‘When the artificial hip came out, two to three million people probably qualified for it. But it took time for them to be able to roll it out for everyone.’

Professor Nerys Astbury, a researcher in diet and obesity at the University of Oxford, 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.

‘Real-time monitoring of the NHS roll-out plan for these medications is needed, in order to ensure that any emerging inequities in access can be addressed and rectified without delay.’ 

The potential transformative power of GLP-1s comes at a time when the UK needs every available tool to fight against rising obesity rates.

Research suggests bulging waistlines have caused life expectancy in the country to plummet, with the average person in England now living nine months less than they did in 2011. 

Medics have warned for years that the NHS is struggling to cope with the obesity crisis which sees thousands of hospital admissions from conditions linked to weight gain.

The Government has previously said that obesity alone costs the NHS £6.5billion every year, with the condition also being the second biggest preventable cause of cancer. 

An analysis last year found that the average obese Brit costs the NHS at least £1,000 in healthcare costs per year.

It came after another study, published at the end of 2023, found Britain’s ballooning obesity crisis was now costing the nation nearly £100billion per year.  

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘We know more needs to be done to make sure these drugs are available across the country – that’s why some areas of the NHS are already developing and testing new ways of rolling out these new medicines to ensure those with the highest need can access them.

‘As we shift the focus from treatment to prevention through our 10 Year Health Plan, we are determined to bring revolutionary modern treatments to everyone who needs them – not just those who can afford to pay – as we tackle obesity.’

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 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.’