We’ve had a lot of requests for weight loss injections as the media have been reporting that GPs can prescribe medication like Ozempic and Mounjaro from next week. In York and many other areas in England, patients will not currently be able to access these medications for obesity on the NHS. Each area has a Commissioning Board (ICB) who determine the funding and pathways for specialist treatment. Currently, NHS GP practices can only prescribe Mounjaro, Ozempic and other GLP-1s for patients with Type 2 Diabetes who fulfil specific criteria. We will update our website and social media channels if/when this changes. It may be that GPs will be able to refer patients to specialist clinics to access these medications or some practices may choose to take on extra funding to provide staff to run specialist clinics. This is all unclear and unlikely to change in the coming months. There will be very strict rules regarding who can be prescribed these medications if/when they do become available for NHS use. Please see our website for more information https://www.priorymedical.com/referrals-resources/weight-loss-and-exercise/
Routine waiting times
Why are routine waiting times longer than they used to be?
Our teams are working incredibly hard every day to meet the demand for urgent and routine care our patients are requesting.
Across all General Practices in England the demand is greater than the capacity available in our teams can meet and we have to make sure urgent needs are met daily. This is why you are experiencing longer waits that were normal in the past for routine care.
We know this is frustrating for our patients and for our staff. We hear this feedback every week, it is of utmost importance to us as a practice, and we know this is really important to you too.
What are we doing?
- We are working hard to change the current system through which our patients request appointments and are triaged so we can better understand your needs, enabling us to get you to the right appointment with the right person.
- We meet regularly with Healthwatch, our local patient advocacy team, to make sure we hear from them what our patients and different population groups are telling them about the challenges they are having getting access to us and primary care in general.
- We are aware that not everyone feels confident using, or has access to the equipment they need to request appointments digitally, so we are developing our non-digital support to those who need that most. We also wish to use this time to further understand the needs of this patient group.
- We are identifying those who are most vulnerable and who need additional support in order to access us and then we can understand how to provide the care they need
- We are working with our commissioners to develop the case for developing more urgent care capacity in York to make sure the demand for urgent primary care can be met every day. In this way we will be better able to provide the routine care many of our patients need more quickly.
Have your say
We welcome all feedback and would encourage you to speak to us about your experience with us or your ideas about what would help you and our communities with accessing the primary care you need. You can use the “Get in touch” contact box on our contact us page.
You can also contact York Healthwatch on 01904 621133 (choose option 3 for Healthwatch York), or email healthwatch@yorkcvs.org.uk. Website: Home - Healthwatch York
We have an active Patient Engagement Group (PPG) and you are welcome to join this and hear the dates for our future meetings if you want to come along - more information on the Friends of Priory page.
