“Weight loss jabs won’t go far enough”: Royal College of Physicians urges more radical obesity action after 80% of doctors report rising cases

In its new position statement, the RCP said ‘medication alone will not be enough to make meaningful progress on tackling obesity’, and calls for further policies including reducing the ‘aggressive marketing and advertising’ of unhealthy food, increasing the availability and affordability of healthy foods and funding to ensure equitable access to NHS weight management services across the country.  

The statement follows government’s promise in the 10 Year Plan for Health to “launch a moonshot to end the obesity epidemic”. The RCP is urging government to set out detail and timelines for delivering these obesity commitments as it publishes new survey data from doctors revealing the mounting scale and impact of obesity on the NHS, patients and the care they receive.   

A June snapshot survey of RCP members revealed:  

• Treatment for other illnesses is less effective as a result of obesity: When asked about the impact of obesity on their patients, 48% said that treatment was not as effective as a result, 47% that recovery was impeded, 42% that there were complications during treatment and 33% that patients were unable to access certain treatments due to living with obesity (483 respondents). 

Dr Kath McCullough, RCP’s special adviser on obesity, said:  

“The narrative that obesity is about personal responsibility or that new medications will solve the problem is misleading. Obesity is a chronic illness shaped by a range of factors and influences – and it’s on the rise.  

“We are seeing daily how obesity causes and makes it harder to treat conditions, from diabetes and arthritis to heart disease and cancer. The NHS 10 Year Plan rightly sets out a suite of measures that can be used in the fight against obesity, but the armoury is far from complete. Weight loss drugs can be part of the solution for some patients, but our efforts must focus on preventing people developing obesity and overweight in the first place. We welcome the measures government announced last week – they have great potential. We look forward to seeing the detail on how we will translate that ambition into reality.” 

The RCP recognises obesity as a chronic, systemic illness characterised by excess adiposity which, when associated with alterations in the function of tissues or organs, results in a disease state or ‘clinical obesity’. 

In its new position statement, the RCP calls for:  

• Treatment to be provided on a health-needs basis, and that sufficient wraparound support is provided to ensure that once patients have reached a healthy weight, they can sustain it without further treatment. Wraparound care should be delivered in a range of community and clinical settings, including – but in no way limited to – digital platforms alone

• Clinical interventions, such as weight loss drugs, must be complemented with broad, bold action from government to tackle the social and environmental drivers of obesity

• Policies to reduce aggressive marketing and advertising of foods high in fat, salt, and sugar, whilst increasing the availability and affordability of healthy foods from an early age.

Dr Mumtaz Patel, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said:  

“Doctors are telling us loud and clear about the scale and impacts of obesity. It is undermining treatment, driving up complications and placing additional pressure on an already overwhelmed NHS. In less affluent communities, we’re watching obesity fuel a vicious cycle. People are getting sicker, their care becomes harder to deliver and the system just can’t catch up.  

“We welcome steps the government is taking. No few individual measures will be enough. It is a complex problem that requires multifaceted solutions. We need bold, joined-up preventative action that tackles the genetic, social, economic and commercial factors that drive obesity.”