Gluten-free bread, pasta and BISCUITS on the NHS

August 8, 2016

NHS spent £26m in 2016 on prescribing for coeliac and allergy patients
This included £16.7m on gluten or wheat-free bread and £2.5m on pasta
Prescribing is so expensive some CCGs are now setting restrictions
System is from 1960s when wheat-free products were hard to find in shops

Madlen Davies for MailOnline

Published:
09:27 EST, 8 August 2016

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Updated:
10:23 EST, 8 August 2016

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The NHS is spending millions of pounds every year prescribing gluten-free bread, pasta – and even biscuits, new figures reveal.

NHS trusts spent £25.4 million last year on food for people with allergies and coeliac disease – an illness where the immune system reacts to gluten.

Data from NHS Digital, the official body for NHS statistics, said 1.7 million prescriptions were written for gluten and wheat-free products in 2015.

NHS trusts spent £25 million last year on food for people with allergies and coeliac disease – including £16.7 million on gluten or wheat-free bread, official figures show

This has fallen since 2014, when £26.6 million was spent on foods for special diets.

The most common prescription in 2015 was for bread, with 840,000 prescriptions and a cost to the health service of £16.7 million.

Gluten-free bread costs around £2 at a supermarket – while a run-of-the-mill loaf costs as little as 40p.

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Another £2.5 million of taxpayers cash was spent on gluten-free and wheat-free pasta as well as £1.1 million on biscuits.

The system dates back to the 1960s when gluten-free products were hard to find in shops.

Doctors now want to limit prescriptions to vouchers for the purchase of staples such as bread and flour.

NHS SPENDING ON GLUTEN AND WHEAT FREE FOOD

The NHS spent £26 million on 1.7 prescriptions for gluten and wheat-free products in 2015.

The most common prescription in 2015 was for bread, with 840,000 prescriptions and a cost to the health service of £16.7 million.

Another £2.5 million of taxpayers cash was spent on gluten-free and wheat-free pasta as well as £1.1 million on biscuits.

Source: NHS Digital

In fact, nutrition prescribing has become so expensive some Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are being forced to restrict the number of gluten-free goods dished out.

According to Coeliac UK, the group that represents sufferers from the condition, about a quarter of the 209 CCGs in England have imposed restrictions.

Sheffield CCG is among those to have introduced restrictions and Wirral and Sunderland CCGs are both considering similar moves.

York CCG has started handing out supermarket vouchers to sufferers instead of prescriptions.

This has led to a small reduction in the amount of health service money spent on these prescriptions in recent years, down from £27 million in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

But the charity is concerned these cuts will leave vulnerable coeliac patients without support which will affect their ability to stick to the gluten-free diet.

Sarah Sleet, chief executive of Coeliac UK, said: ‘The provision of gluten-free staple food on prescription is a vital element of the support offered to all patients by the NHS and it is essential to prevent long term damage to health.

Some 1.7 million prescriptions were written for gluten and wheat-free products in 2015

‘Simple switching to alternative carbs such as rice and potatoes risks malnutrition with bread alone providing between 10 and 20 per cent of our most important nutrients such as protein, calcium and iron but potatoes and rice only providing a fraction of this.’

Coeliac disease is caused by the immune system reacting to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Symptoms include bloating, diarrhoea and nausea.

Coeliac UK says that one in 100 people suffer from the condition but only a quarter or those affected in the UK have been diagnosed.