NHS Western Isles prescribing weight loss drugs at triple the rate of other health boards — SkimNews
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- ABPI found that in June-August 2025 NHS Western Isles had the highest three-month average GLP-1 quantity prescribed per head, at 1,086.54, followed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde at 392.97 and NHS Shetland at 100.31.
- ABPI's report said differences in patient need did not fully explain the geographic variation; it also warned that a few prescriptions can sharply affect rates in small island populations and that the data cannot separate diabetes from weight-loss use.
- NHS Western Isles said its structured pathway for GLP-1 medicines began earlier than any other Scottish board, attributing its prescribing rate to early implementation and local clinical need rather than pilot participation; the board reported significant clinical benefit.
- BBC Scotland News reported that fewer than half of Scotland's 14 territorial boards were prescribing GLP-1s specifically for weight loss and fewer than 800 Scots had received them for that purpose; FOI requests found 340 such patients at NHS Western Isles, the highest among six pilot boards.
- Royal College of Physicians described the lack of access to safe and cost-effective GLP-1 medicines as discriminatory against obese people and argued that the NHS could save millions in obesity-related illness.
- Highland recorded the highest prescribing of SMC-approved non-statin LDL-lowering medicines and Forth Valley the lowest, an eight-to-10-fold difference; ABPI said closer links between specialists and GPs generally coincided with higher prescribing.
- The Scottish government said it would carefully consider the findings while its planned reduction of mainland health boards from 14 to two is intended to improve equity and reduce unwarranted variation; ABPI's seven recommendations call for better planning, cooperation and board transparency.
Why it matters: Patients in lower-prescribing boards face the clearest inequality: ABPI says avoidable barriers can leave people waiting longer for medicines already judged effective and good value. With Western Isles at 1,086.54 per head versus 100.31 in Shetland, the gap is a concrete test of Scottish reforms intended to improve equity.
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