The Prime Minister has championed a ‘stronger focus’ on new weight loss treatments provided through pharmacies, in his speech announcing the government’s new 10-year plan for the NHS.
Sir Keir Starmer promoted shifting the NHS away from a ‘sickness service’ to preventative care – highlighting increased vaccinations, early screening, mental health support, and weight loss services.
Today’s ‘Fit for the future: 10-year health plan for England’ has pledged to increase community pharmacists’ role in managing ‘long-term conditions, complex medication regimes’ and treatment of ‘obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol’.
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New neighbourhood health centres, which the Prime Minister today called the ‘future of the NHS’, have also been announced in the plan and are set to be staffed by pharmacists, alongside nurses, doctors, social care workers and others.
These centres are instrumental to the 10-year plan’s proposed shift from hospital-dominated care to community-led prevention and treatment.
The Prime Minister said: ‘The future of healthcare is no longer defined by top-down citadels of a central state, but is instead, in your home, in your community, in your hands.’
He added: ‘We will shift the NHS away from being only a sickness service to a health service that is genuinely preventative in the first place.
‘That means a stronger focus on vaccination, on screening, early diagnosis [and] things like innovative weight loss services – available in pharmacies.’
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Provisions to work with industry to test new models which can help patients lose weight are also included in the plan.
Proposed models include digital only methods, services provided in high-streets or shopping centres, or undefined rural and less-urban services.
The government has also committed to expanding the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme to 125,000 more people per year.
New polling commissioned by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has this week found that 44% of adults support the NHS making weight loss injections free through their community pharmacy.
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IQVIA analysis found that over 1.4 million packs of Wegovy and Mounjaro were supplied through pharmacies in April.
The ‘Fit for the future’ plan also promotes healthcare digitisation, advocating increased AI assisted diagnosis, comprehensive digital records, and online appointment booking.
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