How Your Weight Is Verified Before a Weight Loss Prescription

If you have used an online service that prescribed a weight loss medicine from a form alone, that service was not following the rules. Since 2025, the pharmacy regulator has been clear that a questionnaire on its own is not enough for these medicines. Here is what should happen instead.

What the rule says

The General Pharmaceutical Council requires a prescriber to independently verify your weight, height and body mass index before supplying a weight management medicine. Independently means from a source other than you typing a number into a box.

The regulator also says a phone call is not enough on its own, and that a photograph or a pre-recorded video you supply yourself is not acceptable as the only check.

Why it exists

These medicines are licensed for specific body mass index ranges. Prescribing outside those ranges carries real risk, and the risk falls hardest on the people least likely to be helped. Investigations have shown people obtaining treatment by giving figures that were not accurate, including people who were underweight.

The check protects you in a second way. It creates a proper clinical record, so if something goes wrong there is a named prescriber who assessed you and knows your history.

How the check is done

The usual route is a short video consultation with a clinician. You are weighed during the call and your height is confirmed. It takes a few minutes and you do not need any special equipment beyond a set of scales.

With your consent, we can use information held by your GP or in your medical records instead. That route suits people who would find a video call difficult, and it is often the better option if your records are up to date.

We tell you which route applies before anything is prescribed, so there are no surprises.

What to expect on a video call

Wear ordinary clothes. A clinician should never ask you to undress or to wear tight clothing for a weight check. Have your scales on a hard floor rather than carpet, and be ready to show the reading. If you use hoist scales, chair scales or any other adaptation, that is fine, and it should be accepted.

If any service asks you for something that feels wrong, you can stop and ask why. A good clinician will explain.

What else the prescriber reviews

Verification is one part. Your prescriber also reviews your medical history, every medicine and supplement you take, any previous weight loss treatment and the dose you reached, and whether you are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning a pregnancy. They may contact your GP where that is the safest course.

A prescription is not guaranteed

Completing an assessment and a weight check does not mean treatment follows. Your prescriber may decide a weight loss medicine is not appropriate, suggest a different option, or refer you back to your GP. The assessment is free either way, and being told no is a sign the process is working.

How our service works

Complete a free online assessment, have your height and weight verified independently, and a registered prescriber decides. If treatment is prescribed, a pharmacist checks the supply before it leaves us and it arrives by tracked delivery in plain packaging.