Willow Bank Surgery

The Website is in the process of an update, please bear with us whilst this is done.

If you are unable to find what you need on here please contact the practice via Email: willowbanksurgery@stoke.nhs.uk 

for any out of hours medical queries/emergencies please contact 111

Weight-management services update – Mounjaro

We are receiving a significant number of enquiries about the availability of the Mounjaro weight-loss drug which has been approved by NHS England for eligible patients. NHS England has set the criteria for eligibility for the drug; this is a national policy which all NHS prescribers, such as GPs and pharmacists, are required to abide by. The criteria for weight management cannot be changed by prescribers.

Although NHS England has approved the drug, all GPs are waiting for information about how the drug will be provided to eligible patients, when, and for how long. We are also awaiting guidance about how the drug should be used by patients along with other services to support weight management, such as diet and exercise.

Current guidance is that anyone with a BMI of 40 or higher, and with four or more of the qualifying comorbidities (hypertension, dyslipidaemia, obstructive sleep apnoea, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes) will be eligible for assessment to identify their suitability for Mounjaro. Anyone not meeting these criteria will not be eligible for assessment in the first year of the drug being available.

More information on local Weight Management services can be found on the ICS webpage please: Local Weight Management services - Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, ICS

NHS England has been directed by the government to establish and operate the OpenSAFELY COVID-19 Service and the OpenSAFELY Data Analytics Service. These services provide a secure environment that supports research, clinical audit, service evaluation and health surveillance for COVID-19 and other purposes.

Each GP practice remains the controller of its own GP patient data but is required to let approved users run queries on pseudonymised patient data. This means identifiers are removed and replaced with a pseudonym.

Only approved users are allowed to run these queries, and they will not be able to access information that directly or indirectly identifies individuals.

Patients who do not wish for their data to be used as part of this process can register type 1 opt out with their GP.

Find additional information about OpenSAFELY.