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A medical journal has suggested that gluten free food is now so commonly available that it should no longer be given on prescription; they see this as a costly expense that is no longer needed and involves far too much administration.
The way in which people with Coeliac Disease is treated is due to be reviewed later this year by The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to find the most cost effective method.
Coeliac Disease is an autoimmune system disease which means when gluten barley or rye is eaten it triggers a reaction and damages the lining of the small intestine. Coeliac Disease is incurable but can be managed by sticking to a strict gluten free diet.
There are an estimated 600,000 people in the UK currently that have coeliac disease so obviously there needs to be plans put into place to support the cost and convenience of not being able to get food readily available on prescription.
One alternative which has been suggested is food vouchers although this would also be time consuming to sign up all supermarkets and also again a lot of time taken up with administration, another worry about vouchers is the possibly fraud.
I myself along with my parents and my grandparent have all got Coeliac Disease it is already a struggle when it comes to shopping due to the fact food which does not contain gluten is around 3 times more expensive than gluten containing foods, if we aren’t able to rely on food which we receive from prescription we will see our shopping bill rise by at least 3-4 times more than what it currently is. Another issue we will have it the availability of food such a bread which is not highly stocked in supermarkets if everyone is having to purchase food from these supermarkets I worry how they will managed to keep stocked up for the high demand.
If you want to find out more about Coeliac Disease you can go to http://www.coeliac.org.uk/
0116 266 5394
