What Are the Requirements for a Wegovy Prescription?

Does your BMI actually meet the Wegovy prescription threshold?

The BMI requirement is the starting point, not the finishing line. The licensed threshold is a BMI of 30 or above, or 27 to 29.9 if you have a qualifying condition — think high cholesterol, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnoea, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, or osteoarthritis. If you are unsure where you land, the NHS BMI calculator gives you a figure in under a minute and is worth checking before your consultation.

One nuance that catches people off guard: UK guidance reduces the standard BMI thresholds by 2.5 kg/m² for people of South Asian, Chinese, other Asian, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean heritage. So if your BMI is 27.5 and you are South Asian, for example, you may well meet the threshold even though the headline number looks borderline. A prescriber applies this adjustment as part of a full assessment, not as an afterthought. You can read through the detailed eligibility picture on our BMI requirements for Wegovy page.

BMI is a population tool, not a verdict on your health. The prescriber's job is to look at the broader clinical picture and decide whether treatment is appropriate for you specifically.

What else does a prescriber look at beyond your BMI?

Meeting the BMI cut-off opens the door; it does not guarantee a prescription. A prescriber reviewing your Wegovy consultation will look at your current medicines, your medical history, and any conditions that affect whether semaglutide is safe for you.

Wegovy is not suitable for everyone. A personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 rules it out entirely. Pancreatitis in your history requires careful discussion. The prescriber also checks for interactions with other medicines you take, including oral contraceptives — because slowed gastric emptying can affect how the pill is absorbed, some people may need to consider an additional contraceptive method during early treatment. The NHS England guidance on weight-management injections covers this interaction and the related advice on HRT.

Pregnancy, breastfeeding, and actively trying to conceive are all situations where Wegovy is not recommended. The same applies to anyone under 18. These are firm boundaries, not matters of clinical discretion.

A good prescriber will also ask about your diet, your activity, and your goals. Wegovy works alongside lifestyle changes, not as a replacement for them. That conversation is part of the assessment, not a box-ticking exercise.

How does the prescription process work in practice?

Wegovy is a prescription-only medicine. The only legal route to it in the UK is through a prescriber who has personally assessed your suitability. At nume, that assessment is carried out by a GPhC-registered Independent Prescriber who reads your consultation the same day you submit it. A real clinician reviews it, not an automated system.

You can learn more about what the Wegovy prescription process involves at each stage, or check what general prescription requirements for Wegovy mean for you in practical terms. If you are coming from a diabetes diagnosis and wondering how that affects your application, the considerations for semaglutide are explored separately on our first-time visit guide for diabetes patients.

Identity verification, live weight confirmation, and a review of any evidence you provide for your current dose (for transfer patients) are all part of how a responsible service works. Our clinical approach is built on that structure. Once your prescription is issued, your treatment is dispatched the same day if you order before 12pm, arriving by tracked DPD delivery the next working day. There are no subscriptions; every repeat is clinically reviewed before anything is sent.

If you have questions before starting, our FAQs cover the most common ones, and if you want to understand the full Wegovy NHS requirements before proceeding, that detail is worth reviewing at this stage. When you are ready, you can buy Wegovy through our service after completing a free consultation with our prescribers.