Updated: 27 June 2025 – Interim Policy Statement: Prescribing Wegovy® and Mounjaro® for Weight Management on the NHS in North East London
The interim policy statement outlines NHS North East London’s (NEL) criteria for access to National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved weight management medications semaglutide (Wegovy®) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro)® on the NHS. It has been produced in line with NHS England Interim Commissioning Guidance working alongside our clinical experts and weight management services in North East London.
The detailed interim policy statement can be found here.
We are currently in the process of establishing new weight management services in NEL, in a phased approach. Tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) will be made available on behalf of primary care as part of these services.
GPs will then be able to refer patients who qualify for weight management medications for weight loss. We are asking that GPs do not start prescribing Tirzepatide or other GLP1 medications for weight management.
We are working as quickly as possible to make these services available across north east London. Once launched, GPs will be able to refer people directly to the service which includes access to medicines and wrap around care for Tirzepatide.
These services will come online by October 2025, and we will update you with details of the service and how to refer into it in due course.
In the meantime, if you receive a patient request to prescribe Tirzepatide our advice is to inform your patient that you will be able to refer them to the new service once this is available and if they meet the eligibility criteria as shown below:
Body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 40kg/m2 * AND 4 or more qualifying co-morbidities.
Qualifying co-morbidities (see details of definitions) are:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Hypertension
- Dyslipidaemia
- Obstructive sleep apnoea
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
Those with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 35kg/m2 * and 1 weight related co-morbidity (not restricted to qualifying co-morbidities) and one of the below criteria:
- Active malignancy and need for urgent weight loss for planned therapy e.g. radiotherapy or surgery
- Urgent weight loss needed for organ transplant
- Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), needing frequent lumbar punctures and/or visual compromise
- Undergoing planned time-sensitive surgery for life-limiting conditions, where a high BMI is the main barrier to surgery.
- Obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS)
* A lower body mass index threshold should be used (usually reduced by 2.5 kg/m2) for people from South Asian, Chinese, other Asian, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean ethnic background
If the patient does not qualify for Tirzepatide then you may wish to refer them to your local Tier 2 provider, if clinically appropriate.
There are other NHS-supported weight loss programmes in north east London which you may want to refer your patients to:
- NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP)
- NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission
- Digital Weight Management Programme
Patients can
We appreciate the difficulties that this situation has caused for primary care colleagues and apologise for the delay in providing detailed information in order for you to prepare for the expected public interest.