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GPs will receive financial incentives to provide weight-loss medicines on the NHS, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced.
In a statement published on 23 February 2026, the DHSC said: “Patients living with obesity are set to receive improved access to weight-loss support programmes and jabs from their GPs,” adding that £25m has been set aside for this.
“Currently, not all practices prescribe weight loss drugs; however, GPs will now be incentivised to do so as part of wider plans to expand and accelerate access,” the DHSC added.
As part of the GP contract for 2026/2027 — due to be published on 24 February 2026 — the DHSC said that two new indicators that will track the provision of obesity care to eligible patients will be added to the Quality and Outcomes Framework, a voluntary annual incentive programme for GP practices in England.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said: “Outside the NHS, we’ve seen those who can spare the cash buying privately, and the proliferation of rogue prescribers peddling dangerous unlicensed drugs that are putting patients at risk.
“Investing in general practice will help bring this modern medicine to the many, not just the few, and help shift the focus of the NHS from treatment to prevention.”
Mounjaro (tirzepatide; Eli Lilly) can be prescribed by GPs, while Wegovy (semaglutide; Novo Nordisk) is available through specialist weight management services.
Responding to the GP funding package, Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), said: “The NHS roll out of weight-loss treatments remains very slow and only a handful of patients are being treated. In some parts of the country, it has hardly begun at all.
This means that the vast majority of patients will be receiving weight-loss treatment from their pharmacy.
“The government should be using the expertise pharmacies have in this area and commission them to provide weight management services on the NHS, rather than relying on overstretched GPs,” he added.
The results of a poll commissioned by the NPA in summer 2025 showed that 44% of UK adults would support NHS weight-loss services being delivered through community pharmacies.
Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, said: “Community pharmacies are well placed to deliver accessible, professional and effective weight-loss management services.
“It is evidenced that patients who go through community pharmacy weight-loss management services go on to have a successful outcome.
“We are asking the government to invest in our community pharmacies to allow them to further deliver these valuable services to patients who need them.”
In August 2025, the DHSC said that pilots of community pharmacy weight management programmes — jointly funded by the UK government and Eli Lilly, which manufactures Mounjaro (tirzepatide) — could start in summer 2026.
