NHS: Anti-obesity Medication

Lord Bishop of London Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Cryer (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord, who makes a number of good points. He is mainly talking about the MHRA and NICE. The MHRA continuously works with national and international partners and agencies to monitor drugs and make sure that they are prescribed properly. He also touched on the problem of obesity, which I probably should have mentioned before. A majority of people in this country, certainly adults, are overweight, and 30% of adults live with obesity, leading to illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease and bladder problems—a whole range of problems that are perfectly preventable. But trying to persuade people to eat more healthily has not worked in the past, which is why we are going down the path that we are at the moment, with weight-management services and, in certain cases only, the prescription of drugs that are very closely monitored. The process that the drugs go through before they are available to the public is extremely rigorous.

[The Lord Bishop of London]

My Lords, Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy independent review details the factors that impact on our ability to eat healthily. They include having the facilities at home to be able to prepare fresh food and having the time to do so; it is also about where you live. About 3.3 million people cannot reach any food store selling raw ingredients by public transport. When it comes to combating obesity, what steps are the Government taking to assist low-income families, in particular, with accessing healthy and nutritious meals?

[Lord Cryer (Lab)]

I am grateful for the question. What the right reverend Prelate is really talking about is conditions rather than medicine, which touches on an important part of the 10-year plan for health that was introduced recently by the incoming Government. That is about moving towards a system of prevention rather than cure. Prevention is always more sensible than cure and, in the longer term, it is actually a great deal cheaper as well. The right reverend Prelate talked about social and economic conditions that will take a long time to address, with the best will in the world.