Weight Management Medication in Primary Care

NHS England and NICE have approved the use of Tirzepatide, which you may also know as Mounjaro®️ or ‘the weight loss drug’, from primary care.

You may well hear that Tirzepatide is available from primary care from 23rd June 2025. However, in the first two years entry criteria have been set by NHS England to a very small number of people. This is to allow safe entry of this repurposed medicine into the health system.

BMA “Focus on Guidance document: Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) for weight management in General Practice” 

GPC England has produced a Focus on Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) for weight management in General Practice document, which explains the how Tirzepatide is used, commissioning arrangements (responsibility for funding lies with ICBs), and responding to information requests from private providers.  The guidance also includes a template letter for practices to respond to requests for medical information following a private consultation.

Arrangements in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough 

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough ICB has  published an information page on their website,  with additional resources being added in due course.

Patients meeting the following eligibility criteria can now be referred to the Healthy You service for assessment for tirzepatide: 

• With a BMI of 40kg/m2 or above(or 37.5 kg/m2 for people from South Asian, Chinese, other Asian, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean ethnic backgrounds), AND 

• At least FOUR out of the following five diagnosed health conditions

1. Established Type 2 diabetes  
2. Hypertension requiring blood pressure lowering therapy
3. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
4. Obstructive sleep apnoea where treatment is indicated i.e. continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)
5. Dyslipidaemia requiring treatment 

The service will not be provided by GP Practices as Healthy You has been commissioned to provide it, but GP Practices can refer eligible patients to their service for assessment.  It is not necessary for patients to complete a tier 2 weight management programme before being referred for weight loss medication to tier 3.

Healthy You

If the decision is taken that the patient can be prescribed Tirzepatide, the ongoing responsibility of the prescribing and monitoring remains with the Healthy You service. More information can be found on their website, links provided below:

https://healthyyou.org.uk/healthy-you-tier-3-weight-management-programmes-summary/

https://healthyyou.org.uk/specialist-weight-loss-injections-tirzepatide-mounjaro-in-cambridgeshire-and-peterborough/

Cambs LMC Resources

Cambs LMC has shared its concerns with the ICB, about long-term provision of this service and the potential knock-on workload for practice.  With that in mind, we have produced a patient information sheet and a template letter for General Practice use.  Please contact us in the usual way, should you have any queries office@cambslmc.org