Labour's 10 year NHS plan

[Jdsk]

I've missed something: why would that happen?

Numerous sources including (dubious) front pages:

""Cost of fat jabs to triple" reads the Metro's headline....... The US pharmaceutical firm behind the weightloss drug Mounjaro is increasing the price of the jabs, according to the report. It says what is known as a "kwikpen", which contains four weekly shots of the highest dose, will go from £122 to £330. That would bring the annual cost for users to around £4330." (BBC News round up)

Also referenced in more trustworthy sources! Pressure from Trump on pharma prices in Europe c.f. USA.

Over half of sales in UK off-prescription.

My emboldening.

Are you sure about that?

Because Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is prescription-only in the UK:
https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/tirzepatide/

Jonathan

[djnotts]

I can't recall where I saw the numbers but I did quickly calculate the proportions. There are seemingly recognised private prescription sources e.g.
Voy — Weight loss https://share.google/9UBoOXMxA2Xhm3GEQ

[Jdsk]

Are you thinking of prescribed outside the NHS rather than sold off-prescription?

Jonathan

[djnotts]

I probably am! Sorry.

[djnotts]

^ "Currently there are thought to be around 1.5 million people on weight loss drugs in the UK with more than half of them on Mounjaro. Estimates suggest nine in 10 pay for these drugs privately, buying from online services and high street pharmacies." BBC, report on reduction in increase of Mounjaro prices.

[djnotts]

Sometimes just one, simple, statistic says it all. I declare a personal interest in this one, currently awaiting, already well beyond the target times, investigation, never mind any possible treatment, of my Recurrent Prostate cancer.

"Particularly important for cancer are CT scanners, which look deep inside a person's body. Denmark now has about 30 of them per million people - the average of other rich countries stands at 25.9.

The UK, meanwhile, lags way behind with just 8.8 scanners per million people, according to the 2021 figures." (BBC News)

Prostate cancer is of course much in the news, high profile sufferers, calls for
routine screening etc. A good thing, but an increase in early diagnostic activities will only worsen the treatment times.

I am old so a further life-shortening of little import to me or society, but not the case for younger cancer patients.

Compared with my original diagnosis and treatment 4 years ago, everything just seems much slower.

[djnotts]

Surprise, surprise.....re weight loss drugs. Only for the wealthy. Postcode lottery. Etc.

BBC News.

".......Some are now prescribed by the NHS, including Wegovy and Mounjaro, generating scores of headlines.

Really, this should have made it a great leveller. In theory, anyone struggling with obesity can - without the expense of a private doctor - get help to manage their weight.

Only that's not the full picture..........

Thousands of NHS patients are believed to be missing out. And with the NHS tightly restricting access, some working in the field warn a two-tier system around weight-loss drugs is developing - one that's benefitting the most well-off.

Martin Fidock, who is UK managing director of Oviva, which provides Wegovy and lifestyle support to NHS patients, claims that thanks to varying thresholds of eligibility in different regions, NHS prescriptions are a "postcode lottery".

An estimated 1.5 million people in the UK use these drugs - but more than nine in 10 are believed to pay privately. Prices vary but it generally costs between £100 and £350 a month, depending on the dose and lifestyle support."

[djnotts]

BBC News:

"An NHS online hospital service will be launched in England within two years to help cut waiting times, the prime minister is set to announce.

Sir Keir Starmer will tell the Labour Party annual conference a "new world is coming" as he sets out plans for the digital service.

NHS Online will have its own dedicated doctors and nurses who will take charge of patients who choose to use the service.

The idea is that assessments, check-ups with consultants and follow-up appointments will all be done online."

Bet you will need the planned ID App on your Smart Phone to access the NHS Online care! And be physically and mentally able to navigate the system. Nightmare times get ever closer?

[Cugel]

Surprise, surprise.....re weight loss drugs. Only for the wealthy. Postcode lottery. Etc.

BBC News.

".......Some are now prescribed by the NHS, including Wegovy and Mounjaro, generating scores of headlines.

Really, this should have made it a great leveller. In theory, anyone struggling with obesity can - without the expense of a private doctor - get help to manage their weight.

Only that's not the full picture..........

Thousands of NHS patients are believed to be missing out. And with the NHS tightly restricting access, some working in the field warn a two-tier system around weight-loss drugs is developing - one that's benefitting the most well-off.

Martin Fidock, who is UK managing director of Oviva, which provides Wegovy and lifestyle support to NHS patients, claims that thanks to varying thresholds of eligibility in different regions, NHS prescriptions are a "postcode lottery".

An estimated 1.5 million people in the UK use these drugs - but more than nine in 10 are believed to pay privately. Prices vary but it generally costs between £100 and £350 a month, depending on the dose and lifestyle support."

One lot of of predatory exploiters sells junk-fud to the massed dafties so they get fat and ill and another gang of predatory exploiters sell an expensive remedy so the dafties can counter (some of) the effects of their junk-fudding. Both the junk-fud and the remedy seem unavoidable to those who consume them, being unable to give up either once hooked.

It is, though - even in this awful day & age - possible to avoid the junk-fud and the junk-cures. Walk or get a bike; buy real food to cook and eat. Alas, our "representatives" have decreed that the selling, nay pushing, of junk-everything (including gambling as a "pastime" and car rather than being self-propelling) are economic necessities. They are - for predatory exploiters.

But somehow its all the fault of the NHS ...... ?