Ozempic map of England: Data reveals UK hotspots where skinny shots are widespread – as research shows 1 in 10 women use them

England’s stark Ozempic divide was laid bare today in a revealing map showing how prescriptions for the slimming jabs are seven times higher in some areas than others.

Leicester is the weight loss injection capital, with almost 2,000 prescriptions a month, 6.8 times the number in Kernow, Cornwall.

In second place is Thurrock in Essex, where weight loss jabs generated five times more prescriptions than in Sheffield and South West London.

It comes as new research has today suggested that more than one in ten women are now taking slimming jabs in Britain.

Separate NHS data shows a total of 1.45 million semaglutide prescriptions were written in 2023/2024, with just under 139,000 in October 2024 – the latest figure available.

This does not include the numerous patients who use the drug privately and pay around £200 per month.

Doctors have long told how they are treating increasing numbers of slim women who are ending up in hospital after wrongly telling online pharmacies they are too heavy to pass fitness checks.

Senior medics have even warned that emergency units are treating victims of the appetite suppressant drugs on a daily basis.

According to NHS guidelines, only patients with a body mass index (BMI) over 35, or a BMI of 30 and at least one weight-related health problem, such as high blood pressure, should be prescribed Wegovy.

British law prohibits the sale of such drugs without a prescription from a medical professional.

Semaglutide, sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, is the powerful ingredient behind the jabs’ weight-loss effects.

Wegovy has been available on the NHS for weight loss since 2023. But Ozempic is still only prescribed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

NHS Leicester City is the trust with the highest number of prescriptions for weight loss jabs issued, as a percentage of total prescriptions.

In October 2024, approximately 1,807 prescriptions were issued there by healthcare professionals, accounting for 2.6 prescriptions per 1,000 – approximately one in 400.

This was followed by NHS Thurrock in Essex and NHS Wirral with 698 and 1,792, accounting for 2.38 and 2.28 per 1,000 respectively in October 2024.

NHS Bury in Greater Manchester and NHS North Central London, covering Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington, also recorded 883 and 4,868 prescriptions.

This represented 2.27 and 2.21 prescriptions per 1,000 issued in that month.

By comparison, NHS Kernow in Cornwall issued 526 semaglutide prescriptions, accounting for 0.38 items per 1,000 drugs prescribed – around one in 2,500.

In Sheffield the figure was 603 or 0.45 per 1,000. This is approximately one in 2,200.

Separate freedom of information request data released Research by the NHS Business Services Authority last year also found that more than 120,000 patients would be prescribed Ozempic in England by 2023. Only 68 patients received Wegovy – the type licensed for weight loss in very obese people with no associated health problems.

This is a decrease of 10,000 compared to the more than 130,000 patients who were prescribed Ozempic in 2022.

Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide – also called Rybelsus – tricks the brain into thinking it’s full, reducing appetite and stopping users from overeating.

According to the Obesity Health Alliance, some patients are asked to wait up to five years for specialist weight management support.

In parts of the country, some overburdened services have closed their waiting lists completely.

It comes as a new survey today revealed that 11 per cent of women aged 30 to 75 in Britain were on a weight loss diet.

According to Juniper, a digital weight-loss service that conducted the survey, three-quarters of the thousand women surveyed would consider taking weight-loss injections to lose weight by 2025.

Only 3 percent admitted to excluding them altogether.

There are growing concerns about the number of healthy and underweight patients using these drugs for cosmetic reasons.

In September, 26-year-old Lottie Moss revealed she was rushed to hospital after overdosing on Ozempic at too high a dose.

The model, half-sister of Kate Moss, was seriously ill, suffered an epileptic fit and was severely dehydrated while taking the drug when she weighed around 60kg – just 9 stone.

She got the shot from a friend who bought it under the counter from a doctor, she claimed.

In December, The country’s best GP also warned against long waits NHS Weight loss services are causing patients to buy potentially dangerous fake shots online.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, president of the Royal College of GPs, said she had “serious concerns” about medicines sold by unregulated retailers.

Earlier this month, the British drugs watchdog, the Medicines Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), also announced in 2024, 150 social media posts were removed ‘actively’ selling counterfeit weight loss drugs.

It came just weeks after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) issued a warning to advertisers, companies and influencers to remove online and social media advertisements for prescription-only weight loss drugs that target members of the audience.

This followed a MailOnline investigation which found that social media influencers were encouraged to illegally promote prescription slimming pills to their thousands of people. followers.