Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) Poster
The LMC office is aware that practices are receiving numerous enquiries regarding prescribing of Mounjaro.
Please find below, a poster (one for each ICB area) that has been produced for practice use which we hope will be helpful in informing patients of the current position:
Mounjaro Poster – Suffolk & North East Essex ICB
Mounjaro Poster – Mid & South Essex ICB
Mounjaro Poster – Herts & West Essex ICB
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National guidance has been published on the BMA website at:
“Focus on: Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) for weight management in General Practice”
From 23 June 2025, Tirzepatide must be implemented in primary care*.
Tirzepatide represents a new therapy for weight management, but requires structured implementation, appropriate monitoring, and clarity around responsibilities.
GPs should engage in prescribing where clinically appropriate and safely resourced to do so.
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.
With thanks to Berks, Bucks & Oxon LMCs, the below advice is recommended to pre-empt queries:
- *the “must be implemented” above, is a statutory duty for ICB, not individual GPs, to make happen.The usual timeframe, of 6 months, to get a new NICE-approved treatment out to patients, has in this case been stretched out to 7 years.
- This means that in years 1 to 6 of the phased rollout, there will be many patients who fit the product license and NICE recommendation, but they do not meet the tighter NHS funding criteria.
- We await the final local specifications for this service.
- It is likely to be in the form of an LCS.
In year 1, we expect that the vast majority of patients who hear about this new treatment in the press, will not be eligible.
GPs may need to explain to patients (who will inevitably ask) –
“9 times out of 10, you meet the product license criteria, but you are not overweight or sick enough to meet the NHS funding criteria”.
These patients may wish to seek the treatment in the private sector, and may seek a return to the NHS once their cohort becomes eligible for NHS funding.
What about the old Tier 3 and 4 services, OVIVA etc, bariatric services?
Please note also, this treatment is effectively a challenge to the old paradigm of “Tiers 1 to 4”.
Traditionally, weight loss drugs were used at Tier 3. (For example, we understand that OVIVA currently uses Semaglutide in selected cases).
This new service will be GP + “wraparound care” – details of that TBC, but likely to fall short of formal “shared care” as the wraparound will be providing some of the diet and lifetyle intervention, not the medication oversight.
It therefore doesn’t really fit into the old tiered structure.
Essex ICBs
Mid and South Essex
In line with NICE guidance, in Mid and South Essex, access to the weight loss drug called Wegovy™ remains available through specialist Tier 3 weight management services only. It is not available through prescription by GPs or via other weight management services.
Herts and West Essex
Tirzepatide will be available first in specialist weight management services, starting in spring 2025.
Suffolk and North East Essex
For patients in Suffolk and North East Essex, this will be enabled via a Specialist Weight Management Service community outreach model, which is one of the nationally approved delivery models.
Currently, all referrals will be through Specialist Clinics and GPs cannot prescribe them.