NHS cuts could force OAP to pay £6 a loaf

important. It is a staple.”

Mr Lynen, who lives at Honley, said he was now down to his last three loaves and would have to pay £53.04 each month in future if he wanted to get more from his local chemist. “You can only get them in batches of eight,” he said.

Mr Lynen said gluten-free bread sold in supermarkets – typically costing £3 a loaf – “did not go down as well” as the loaves supplied to his chemist by Liverpool-based Juvela.

Coeliac disease is a digestive condition where the small intestine becomes inflamed and unable to absorb nutrients. It can cause a range of symptoms including diarrhoea, abdominal pain and bloating.

A report on the findings of a public consultation by Greater Huddersfield and North Kirklees CCGs on ways to balance the books, found strong support among non-coeliacs to not routinely fund gluten-free foods on prescription because gluten-free food is widely available in supermarkets. More than 80% of respondents who were prescribed gluten-free food disagreed or strongly disagreed with the plan.

The report acknowledged “real concern” over the impact on people on low incomes and families where several members had been diagnosed as coeliac.

It was also felt that products available in supermarkets were not comparable to the products available on prescription – with particular mention of Juvela and Glutafin, which contain replacement vitamins and minerals that may be required by coeliac patients to help maintain a “healthy diet.”

Announcing the decision in January, the CCGs said increasing demand for NHS services meant difficult decisions had to be made over using the NHS budget.

It said: “GPs will still be able to prescribe these products in certain circumstances, for example on the recommendation of a specialist consultant or where patients have a metabolic disease or other clinical diagnosis which necessitates their use.”