Weight-loss drug prescribing to be added to QOF as part of 2026/27 GP contract

GPs will be incentivised through QOF to provide obesity care including weight-loss jabs where clinically appropriate, the Government has revealed.

Two new indicators will be added to QOF as part of the next GP contract to ‘track’ the provision of obesity care, including offering ‘evidence-based advice’, referrals to weight management programmes and NHS-approved weight-loss drugs.

The Department of Health and Social Care said that the new indicators, backed by £25m of ring-fenced funding, will mean adults living with obesity are ‘more consistently identified and supported’ by GPs across England, through improved recording of BMI and ‘appropriate’ support to manage their weight.

The Government said that improving access to weight-loss care through primary care is ‘central’ to tackling the obesity crisis and will ‘boost’ the phased rollout of weight-loss drugs already underway.

It said: ‘Currently, not all practices prescribe weight-loss drugs, however GPs will now be incentivised to do so as part of wider plans to expand and accelerate access.  

‘The new funding recognises how central general practice is in helping to tackle the obesity crisis and preventing associated long-term conditions like diabetes by coordinating care locally and working in partnership with specialist weight management services.’

The NHS rolled out prescribing of tirzepatide (Mounjaro) in general practice in June last year on a phased basis to avoid inundating services.

Health secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘Weight loss drugs can be a real game changer for those who need them. I’m determined that access should be based on need, not ability to pay.

‘Outside the NHS, we’ve seen those who can spare the cash buying privately, and the proliferation of rogue prescribers peddling dangerous unlicensed drugs that are putting patients at risk.

‘Investing in general practice will help bring this modern medicine to the many, not just the few, and help shift the focus of the NHS from treatment to prevention.

‘This is just part of a wider public health package to help ease the £11 billion burden obesity places on the health service and economy.

‘These new incentives for GPs will bring the principle of fairness – which has always underpinned the NHS – to obesity jabs, with the phased rollout to those with highest clinical need first.’

Pulse has asked DHSC how much the two new QOF indicators will be worth.

The 2026/27 GP contract, due to be unveiled this week, will also provide ‘improvement incentives’ for GP practices making progress on vaccination rates.

The BMA’s GP Committee is holding an ’emergency meeting’ on the 2026/37 GP contract later this week, after having been only consulted on the 2026/27 updates, as opposed to the usual negotiation.

GPC England was consulted alongside the RCGP, NAPC, Healthwatch England, National Voices and the NHS Confederation.

In the first year of primary care tirzepatide prescribing, a patient has had to be over 18, have a BMI of 40 or higher, or 37.5 or higher for certain ethnic groups, and have at least four weight-related conditions to be eligible.

This threshold is due to drop to a BMI of 35+4 comorbidities; or 40+3 comorbidities from 2026/27. Semaglitude (Wegovy) prescribing for obesity remains restricted to specialist weight management services.

After the roll-out started, GPs said they were facing a major increase in workload as patients were seeking to access the drugs, but because some ICBs were slow to set up prescribing pathways GPs found themselves explaining to eligible patients that the treatment was not yet available locally.

Pulse also revealed GP concerns as some patients who do not meet all the criteria but are in greater need are unable to access the drugs, in some cases delaying access to life-saving treatment.

Read all of our coverage of the 2026/27 contract here.