Articles on prescribing in the media today

July 19, 2011

Articles on the cost of gluten-free foods on prescription have hit a number of national newspapers today.

The articles highlight the high cost of gluten-free prescribing to the NHS. The facts quoted are sensationalist and wildly misinterpret the data. Costs quoted are for multiple loaves of bread, not a single loaf of bread as stated. For example, the actual NHS price of a fresh loaf of bread is around £3.25, compared to a gluten-free loaf in the supermarket of around £2.59. Sadly the story has missed the real point that there are some high administrative charges which are being applied to a very small number of products which appear unjustified. We have argued for some time that this issue needs to be investigated at a national level to hold some wholesalers to the NHS account.

Patients should not be left paying the price of such arrangements and they want a fairer, more transparent system where they do not pay the price of unnecessarily high charges to the NHS.

We are talking to politicians and the NHS to get the facts across.

The importance of access to gluten-free foods on prescription for people with the condition should not be understated. The only treatment for coeliac disease is keeping to a strict gluten-free diet for life and prescriptions are an essential part of this. Without this diet people with coeliac disease could become very ill. We know that having a small number of foods to replace normal bread, flour and other staples on prescription helps people with the condition stick to their diet and stay healthy. Specialist doctors agree and say that prescriptions are necessary. Without prescriptions patients will have to pay hundreds of pounds extra a year because the cost of staples like gluten-free bread and flour is around 3- 4 times more expensive in shops and this could affect adherence to the diet.