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The chief pharmaceutical officer for England David Webb has played down reports that weight loss injections will be provided on prescription in community pharmacies but insisted there is an appetite within Government to explore “different” ways of delivering them outside of general practice.

Webb (pictured) told the Clinical Pharmacy Congress in London this month that the jabs will initially be rolled out in general practice “in the usual way we deliver medicines in primary care”.

His comments came after stories appeared in the national press suggesting Labour is in talks with a pharmaceutical company to fund a pilot which would see community pharmacies provide Ozempic and Mounjaro to patients on prescription after a short consultation.

“At the moment, it’s going to be delivered in general practice and in the usual way we deliver medicines in primary care. There is a sense, though, of wanting to explore other ways of delivering these things,” Webb said.

“What is really important I think, particularly about weight loss medicines, is the wraparound care that is needed to go with the medicine. It’s not just the pharmacotherapy but it’s everything else that’s part of that. So, initially, it will be through what I might call ‘the usual routes’.

“But I think there is an ambition to explore different ways of doing things and to understand how that benefits neighbourhoods.”

The Department of Health and Social Care did not respond when contacted by Independent Community Pharmacist for more details about a possible pilot.

The health secretary Wes Streeting, who has emphasised the importance of preventing illness as a central tenet of Labour’s NHS reforms, believes weight loss injections could be used to increase productivity by helping unemployed people lose weight and return to work.

The National Pharmacy Association and Company Chemists’ Association welcomed the prospect of community pharmacies providing the jabs but insisted they must be funded appropriately to do so.