Just under a third (32%) of the British public believe that “the NHS should not be offering weight loss injections to people who are obese, even if this means that people stay obese”, a new Ipsos survey last week (November 22) revealed.
The survey – which polled 1,076 adults online between October 25 and 28 – showed that a further 16% of respondents “don’t know” whether the NHS should offer weight loss injections.
Read more: Repeat offender online pharmacy warned over weight loss POM ads
It comes as NHS England (NHSE) last month proposed that patients “likely to achieve the greatest clinical benefit from weight loss are prioritised to receive” weight loss jabs.
NHSE said at the time that “a range of community-based services” were being developed to “deliver the injection to nearly a quarter of a million people during the first three years of implementation”.
Read more: Mum landed in hospital after taking Facebook ad Mounjaro
But the Ipsos survey revealed that just 37% of respondents believe that “the NHS should be offering weight loss injections to people who are obese, even if there is an immediate cost to the NHS”.
And 14% said they are “neither” for or against the NHS offering weight loss injections.
Read more: Tesco launches ‘health zone’ pilot to expand pharmacy services
When asked “how likely or unlikely would you be to use weight loss injections in the future” if they were “provided by the NHS”, almost half (48%) of respondents said this was “very unlikely”.
And when asked the same question if they had to be purchased from “a private provider at a cost of around £180-£220 per month”, an overwhelming 71% said this was “very unlikely”.
Read more: Wegovy: Ten deaths linked to weight loss injections, says MHRA
Just 2% of respondents said they were “very likely” to use weight loss drugs if they had to pay these prices, while 11% said they were “very likely” to do if offered on the NHS.
It comes as the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) ordered an online pharmacy to change its advertising for weight loss prescription-only-medicines (POMs) earlier this month after it breached rules for the second time.
