Following recent national news output stating that weight-loss injections are available through GP practices, many patients have already been in touch. Although the NHS guidance has changed, it is the local ICB (West Yorkshire) that are responsible for ensuring this service provision is resourced. Currently, there are no resources allocated for GPs to provide this service, or for the necessary monitoring. Therefore, the latest advice from the ICB is that all patients who meet the criteria should be referred to the specialist clinic (the WY ICB criteria are: BMI>40, or BMI>35 with a specified long term condition) which we will happily do when appropriate.
The ICB (West Yorkshire) are due to release communications shortly. You may wish to check on ICB/NHS websites to see if further details have been provided yet.
If you would like to raise a concern about being unable to receive this treatment from your GP, please contact the ICB at: https://www.westyorkshire.icb.nhs.uk/contact/comments-concerns-complaints
We hope that very soon, new treatments such as these will be supported adequately to allow us to provide them safely.
Kind regards,
The Allerton & Westfield team