{"id":305653,"date":"2026-02-28T00:17:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/305653\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T00:17:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:17:22","slug":"pharmacists-could-play-role-in-neighbourhood-hub-obesity-care-mps-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/305653\/","title":{"rendered":"Pharmacists could play role in neighbourhood hub obesity care, MPs told"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pharmacists and other community healthcare professionals could play a central role in providing \u201cwrap-around\u201d obesity care in neighbourhood hubs, helping to ease pressure on GPs, MPs have been told.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on 25 February 2026 at a <a href=\"https:\/\/committees.parliament.uk\/work\/9239\/food-and-weight-management\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee evidence session on food and weight management<\/a>, Kath McCullough, special adviser on obesity at the Royal College of Physicians, told the committee that a \u201crobust workforce plan\u201d was needed to make this possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s already some really good models of care available,\u201d she said, highlighting existing women\u2019s health hubs, smoking cessation programmes and cardiovascular clinics \u201call being done within the community already.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve got some phenomenal pharmacists out there,\u201d McCullough added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUtilising hubs within neighbourhood communities\u2026 it\u2019s really important that whatever way this is done, it\u2019s done in a holistic way, that it\u2019s patient-centred and done within an [multidisciplinary team].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On 23 February 2026, <a href=\"https:\/\/pharmaceutical-journal.com\/article\/news\/pharmacies-respond-to-gp-funding-incentives-for-weight-loss-drugs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Department of Health and Social Care announced<\/a> that GPs will be financially incentivised under the 2026\/2027 GP contract to provide weight-loss medicines on the NHS, including Mounjaro (tirzepatide; Eli Lilly) and Wegovy (semaglutide; Novo Nordisk), with \u00a325m allocated to support access.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement raised concerns that GP involvement could dominate the rollout, with less formal engagement for pharmacists in supporting patient access.<\/p>\n<p>Munro Stewart, vice-chair of policy at the Royal College of General Practitioners, said in the evidence session that GPs now see 16% more patients per GP than in 2015, describing primary care services as \u201cbeyond capacity,\u201d particularly given the increased workload from weight-loss medications.<\/p>\n<p>McCullough suggested the implementation of planning services at integrated care board level to ensure care is joined up across the system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pharmacists and other community healthcare professionals could play a central role in providing \u201cwrap-around\u201d obesity care in neighbourhood&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[134,524,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-305653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}