A LONG-AWAITED decision on whether Jersey should provide publicly funded weight-loss drugs has been delayed – a move that a leading campaigner has warned is leaving Islanders with “very limited” treatment options.
Confirmation on whether Jersey would follow the UK in allowing doctors providing publicly funded care to prescribe GLP-1 agonists, such as Mounjaro, for weight loss purposes was due by the end of last year.
But the JEP can now reveal that the Pharmaceutical Benefit Advisory Committee has postponed a final ruling, citing the lack of a formal weight-management service on the Island.
“PBAC has deferred a final decision on the use of these medicines for obesity, pending decisions about future weight management services in Jersey, as NICE approval is linked to their use within a such a service,” a government spokesperson said.
Obesity advocate Sarah Le Brocq, who grew up in Jersey and now advises nationally on obesity policy, said the delay was “hugely frustrating” and risked entrenching inequality in access to care.
“Right now, if Islanders can afford weight-loss medication, they can get access to it – but if they can’t, then they’ve got nothing,” she said.
Ms Le Brocq, founder and director of UK not-for-profit All About Obesity, said the support in Jersey for those with the condition is “very limited” due to the lack of weight-management services.
“There isn’t a weight management service in Jersey at all,” she said. “And it just blows my mind that we don’t have one.”
Ms Le Brocq said obesity continued to be misunderstood and deprioritised, despite clear evidence that it should be treated like other long-term conditions.
“We need to start managing obesity like the long-term chronic condition that it is, like we do with asthma and diabetes,” she said.
“What concerns me in Jersey is that this not happening, so people are still being left to fend for themselves.”
Ms Le Brocq said delays like the postponed Pharmaceutical Benefit Advisory Committee ruling were often justified on financial grounds, but warned that such thinking was short-sighted.
“I think the thing that people forget is that we’re already funding obesity treatment, but we’re doing it through people getting type 2 diabetes, people with musculoskeletal conditions, or people with all sorts of other comorbidities related to obesity,” she explained.
“If we help people manage their obesity sooner, we wouldn’t be spending the money further down the line.”
She added: “We absolutely need to have access to weight-loss medications publicly in Jersey, and ensure that there’s a service set up to support people whilst they’re on it.”
Ms Le Brocq warned that the current lack of publicly funded provision was pushing people towards private or poorly supported routes, with potentially serious consequences.
“I’m on all the Facebook groups in Jersey and constantly see people saying, ‘Where can I get this medication? Where is the cheapest place?’
“That worries me, because we are seeing malnourishment and muscle wastage happening, because they’re not getting the care and the support that they should be on this medication.”
She said weight-loss drugs must be accompanied by proper clinical and psychological support.
“When you’re taking weight-loss medication, you’re probably not eating very much food, so you need to be getting the right nutritional support and the right fuel for your body,” she said.
“We need to ensure that holistic approach to care is happening alongside the medication, because we need both. It’s not one or the other.”
Ms Le Brocq added that she believed stigma around obesity continued to shape policy decisions.
“A lot of this comes down to the stigma associated with obesity and it not being viewed as the chronic condition that it is,” she said.
“If it was a cancer drug, for instance, or if it was a drug for diabetes or asthma, would we be putting so many hurdles in the way?
“Obesity is very much a priority everywhere else, so why is Jersey not making it one?”
It comes after the JEP ran a three-day series last year exploring the growing use of weight-loss drugs in Jersey and the need for a more holistic approach to weight management.
Islanders who had used surgical and medical interventions to help them lose weight called for more psychological support in Jersey.
Jersey Eating Disorder Support chief executive Karen Dingle said that people “absolutely” need to be more aware of the mental impact of significant weight loss.
And Jersey Bariatric Surgery Support Group co-founder Helen Treby said there is a “severe lack of psychological support” in the Island.
