The weight loss injection has helped numerous people across Wales but unfortunately some others who may benefit don’t yet fit the criteria
Labour MP for Neath and Swansea East Carolyn Harris has said using Mounjaro has changed her lifestyle completely. As a woman who is going through the menopause she has seen first hand the impact hormonal health has on weight gain and loss.
Having had a positive experience on the weight-loss drug Carolyn is campaigning for the Welsh Government to widen the current criteria that is needed to have Mounjaro prescribed on the NHS.
Although the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has approved the use of Mounjaro for weight loss Wales is introducing it more gradually so it can’t currently be prescribed by GPs on the NHS.
This meant patients needed a GP referral to specialist tier three weight-management services for severe obesity (BMI over 45, or over 40 with certain conditions) to obtain the drug.
But in October 2025 the Welsh Government announced that in addition to the previous criteria people who are waiting for time-sensitive surgery or organ transplants, women seeking fertility treatment, and people with conditions such as severe asthma, severe obstructive sleep apnoea, or cancer where weight loss would improve treatment outcomes or access to therapies will have access to the weight-loss drug. Stay informed on the latest health news by signing up to our newsletter here.
Having always struggled with her weight and after years of online abuse from trolls on social media the 65-year-old MP decided to purchase the weight loss injection privately.
After speaking to her menopause doctor about the injection Carolyn decided she was going to “give this a go” in October 2024.
She said: “I got to a point where I was taking so much abuse for how I looked and my weight always came into it. I thought: ‘Maybe I can neutralise the abuse if I’m not fat anymore’ and so that was the driving force I think.”
The MP has since come off X and has turned her comments off on Facebook saying they “were just absolutely horrendous and I think it’s worse if you’re a woman”.
In 14 months on the medication Carolyn has lost nine stone and said it has changed her life. She said: “I’m physically fitter, I have more energy, and I think better, which sounds weird, but I do because I don’t get tired so easily.
“I used to get a lot of aches and pains and I don’t get the aches and pains now. If I had to walk for long distances I’d be filled with dread.”
Following her lifestyle change Carolyn believes people in Wales with physical conditions that are exacerbated by obesity would also benefit from the drug.
She said: “I just think it’s a lifesaver and I think that the NHS would benefit greatly if more people were on it because a lot of the conditions which are due to obesity could be stopped from happening in the first place.
“I’m not saying if you’re a size 12 and you’re going to go to a size 10 you should be able to have it. I’m not saying that at all.
“But some people [should] – especially those people who are maybe waiting to have gastric surgery. I’ve met a lot of people [who] if they knew about this they wouldn’t have had gastric surgery because this is as effective and as quick.
“I just think that if we looked at the money that we could save if we were able to reduce the medication that we are prescribing to people whose health problems stem back to their weight then we would see that this was a a cost-saving exercise.”
Carolyn said she believed the drug could help women would struggle with hormonal conditions much like she does. She said: “I also think there’s a huge link and I would love to see us doing more of this is linking hormone health and weight loss together – especially for women.
“I think there’s a huge link between hormones and weight for women, menopausal women, polycystic ovaries, all these things. The result of a deficiency or an overactive hormone is weight gain. So if we looked at them in their entirety, if we looked at it in this whole, I think we would find that we can help other conditions by tackling the weight problem.”
The MP, who is also the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on menopause, added: “I know for a fact peri-menopausal women and menopausal women gain weight and they can’t lose it through their the usual ways when they’re menopausal. I was one and I know millions of other women who gain weight during menopause. This helps everything.”
Much like Carolyn many members of the public who feel the need to take Mounjaro are having to buy the drug privately as they don’t currently fit the Welsh Government’s criteria. This can be an added extra expense each month which can start at around £150 and reach roughly £300. The MP believes there are many people who would benefit from the drug who aren’t fortunate enough to be able to afford the costly prescription.
She said: “I’d like it to be made a little more available because there are people who may be pre-diabetic who would benefit greatly from it and they can’t. Now I’m very lucky I could afford to buy it.”
Despite the Welsh Government expanding their criteria in October 2025 it is still unclear how this will develop over time.
Speaking on behalf of the British Medical Association (BMA) Dr Gareth Oelmann said: “GLP-1 weight loss injections, and Mounjaro is just one of them, is a promising development for obesity management.
“But safe prescribing, clear commissioning, and robust patient safeguards must come as part and parcel of that wider rollout. So we as the BMA and GPC Wales (General Practice Committee in Wales) continue to press the Welsh Government for action that ensures equitable access to the drugs without compromising patient safety or overburdening general practice without appropriate resources that follow.”
Dr Oelmann said he would like the Welsh Government to clarify their future arrangements when it comes to weight-loss medications in Wales.
He said: “In Wales we do follow the Nice criteria but the limit is prescribing in specialist services only, which is different from in England where there is a commissioning process for GP initiation and monitoring. So we would as GPC Wales and the BMA be calling for the Welsh Government to clarify their future arrangements and consider that scalability within the wider primary care.
“That’s not necessarily widening the NHS prescribing criteria but making those drugs easier to access for those who are clinically eligible. There does have to be a balance between the clinical evidence, the affordability and the scale of the issue, the impact and the evaluation that such an investment in the preventative agenda can have.
“So there’s always a balance but I think that accessibility and maybe the equitability of accessibility when my patients, the citizens of Wales, look across the bridge and see that maybe the criteria may not be any different but the ease and then the availability of the safety mechanism and the monitoring that could be given closer to home by that service being delivered in general practice is much easier and available. So accessibility and criteria are two separate things.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “There is considerable demand for weight-management medicines and growing pressure for access through the NHS.
“To help meet demand in a sustainable way we are undertaking work to develop a new model that considers access across settings and wraparound support to help and sustain weight loss.
“We have also put in place new arrangements for people with the most urgent clinical need to access the weight-management medicines while arrangements for wider access are considered.”
Pharmacist and owner of Cyncoed Pharmacy in Cardiff Nick Thorne runs a weight-loss clinic which has hundreds of patients who are using the injections to lose weight. Many of these patients have had positive experiences on Mounjaro with some having lost up to eight stone.
Nick believes these jabs have become more prevalent due to the obesity crisis. “There’s been nothing like this before,” he said. “There’s been nothing this safe before.”.
He added: “I think wider criteria should be considered in Wales but only with proper structure and funding. Obesity is driving huge levels of preventable illness and drugs like Mounjaro can reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and long-term NHS costs.
“Restricting access too tightly means we end up treating complications later instead of preventing them earlier. That said expansion must come with clear clinical criteria, training for prescribers, and proper follow-up. This shouldn’t become a quick fix without support.”
Source link
