Sorry, we do need this help to be gluten-free
I DESPAIR about proposals to stop the NHS from offering basic gluten-free food on prescription. I wonder if supporters really understand the consequences of this and believe that most gluten-free foods are available cheaply in supermarkets. I have a daughter, aged 18, a sister and two brothers who suffer from coeliac disease and need to follow a strict gluten-free diet. They live across the country and it’s our experience that gluten-free cake and biscuits are available in most of the bigger chains, but basics are not. Virtually no supermarket sells bread mix; the Glutafin bread mix my daughter uses to make her own bread can be purchased only in a chemist. Things have improved in recent years, but frozen products are usually limited to no more than ten items per supermarket. My life is spent travelling to different stores in hope of finding a particular product and then buying it in bulk. We run an additional freezer just to stock gluten-free products because it’s so difficult finding them. I’d love to know where I can find gluten-free food ‘available cheaply’. A normal loaf of bread can be bought for £1 for 800g; gluten-free costs £3 for 550g. Normal flour costs 85p for 1.5kg, gluten-free is £1.75 per kg. And it’s very rare to get a promotional offer on gluten-free food. My daughter is hoping to go to university in September and, apparently, must have ‘deluxe’ accommodation on campus to accommodate a freezer in her bedroom to ensure she has gluten-free food available — an additional hidden cost for having an autoimmune disease. Two of my siblings are on low incomes and will cease a gluten-free diet if basic food is not available on prescription because they simply cannot afford to do otherwise. If coeliacs don’t follow a gluten-free diet, in the long term it can lead to osteoporosis, infertility and, in some cases, cancer. This is a short-sighted measure as it is the NHS that will be picking up the cost of treating those who need, but can’t afford, a glutenfree diet. Surely there are alternative savings such as linking the age for free prescriptions to the state retirement age — how many people age 60 continue to have an income that means they can afford prescription charges?