If you were quick, and just happened to be listening to BBC Three Counties at 11:55 last Friday, you would have heard me on the radio, talking about coeliac disease and prescriptions.
The thing that is most exciting for me about this (apart from the phone call saying ‘hello, this is the BBC here’, which will probably never happen again) is that they found this blog via a Google search. I was just thrilled by this – imagine, the BBC searching the net and ending up here?
I was talking about how likely it is that the NHS will have to abandon its policy of providing gluten free food on prescription.
The reason for this is, I think, that if 1 in 100 people in the UK do turn out to be coeliac, and if over 80% of prescriptions are provided free of charge (as they are – read more about getting your prescriptions for free or at a reduced rate), then this will prove to be prohibitively expensive for the NHS.
Yes, I know that the reason for providing the basics of a gluten free diet on prescription is an attempt to ensure that people comply with the gluten free diet, reducing the likely expenditure for the NHS in the future if people go off-diet and develop health issues (which you would). But with the increasing availability of a variety of flours, as well as of purpose-made gluten free goods, in the supermarket, I think the NHS might reasonably argue that a gluten free diet could be achieved without too much extra expense.
How much is too much more expense? Well, I heard an estimate that (allegedly) came from Coeliac UK that here in the UK a coeliac pays £13 extra per week on groceries. For some people, this will be too much. Perhaps the NHS could reduce the overall bill for gluten free foods by concentrating the free provision on those on low incomes?
My own thought is that if those manufacturers who currently supply the NHS (and only the NHS) had to compete on the open market with those suppliers who do not supply on the NHS, not only would the open market increase in size, because more people would be buying their foodstuffs, but the price might also come down.
This is a massive issue waiting to erupt here in the UK. What do you think – should the NHS continue to provide gluten free food on prescription?
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Congratulations for your moment of fame!
I have to say that I wouldn’t eat any of the stuff available on prescription anyway, I’ve examined the list and told my doctor not to worry about it. It doesn’t cost more to eat gluten free – that is a widely held misconception about the diet. It’s just that as a nation we are so hooked on bread, cakes, biscuits and pre-prepared food that we have forgotten how to eat, simple, cheap healthy fresh food. Let’s stop contributing to that culture eh?
That makes a lot of sense naomi – it’s the purpose-made cakes, biscuits etc that are expensive.
My daughter doesn’t like the GF cakes and biscuits anyway, but I do like the convenience of ready-mixed flour blends, and ready-made pizza bases and baguettes … I am in awe of those people who can find time to rustle up a quick batch of this and that (and you know you’re one of them!)
Wow, in America you just get charged twice as much for gluten-free and there’s no choice but to pay for it yourself.
Hi Tracee – glad to see you dropped by.
Yes, we are lucky to have the prescription stuff available – and free for some people. But I think that the choice of gluten free food in (at least some parts of) America is much wider. I know that what is available in rural America may not be the same as the range available in some of the big cities!
I’m a 20 year old coeliac at Uni and never eat any of the nasty stuff you get on prescprtion, despite being on a really tight budget. naturally gf stuff tastes better and is cheap as chips (fruit, rice, potatoes) and except for the occasional gf fish finger during exams, or gf crumpet when I’m stressed, it’s all good.
Hi Sarah – thanks for visiting. I agree that there is a wide range of naturally gluten free food that is delicious, and readily available. It will be interesting to see how well the gluten free food producers weather the financial difficulties over the next few years … I think that people may well cut back on the gluten free ‘extras’, just because they are so expensive.
Are you in halls? How easy is it to be gluten free at Uni? Do they cater well for you?
I’m in my second year so live in a private flat with my 5 flatmates, but last year I chose to go self catering- there was NO way I was going to live on jacket potatoes for the year and pay 40 quid a week for the privilege!! It turned out to be a wise decision, a friend of mine is also coeliac and was put in halls, and got served the weirdest food- once just fish and broccoli- no sauce no nothing. She also got glutened once a fortnight!
I was really lucky- I was stressing getting ready to move in because I knew within hours I was going to have to sit down with a bunch of strangers and explain being coeliac and kitchen habits to them, but it turned out fine. There was 5 girls including me in my flat, we cooked chilli together on the first night (with a lot of reading stockcube and spice jar labels from then- i think it was all a bit novel!) and have cooked together monday to friday ever since. They’ve only glutened me once in 2 years, we cook everything from scratch because it’s cheaper, and this year one of my flatmates is dairy free so it all worked out great. I always provide my own pasta on the nights they cook pasta because it’s so expensive and hard to get hold of when you don’t have access to big out of town supermarkets, but then my dairy free housemate gives us all the soy products we need if we’re making lasagne for example.
I haven’t read enough to know how old your oldest daughter is, but the biggest thing to be gluten free at Uni is having confidence in the first few weeks as you meet more and more people and go out for more and more coffees/lunches- it’s easier straight off. It’s all been pretty great since then to be honest (still a fair few jacket potatoes though!)
Ah, the ubiquitous jacket potato.
Thanks for sharing that with us; it sounds like its going pretty well for you (food-wise, anyway – I can see from your blog that other things aren’t always so easy).
My eldest isn’t old enough for Uni yet, but I’m sure the years will pass all too quickly, and we’ll need to think about that …
Lol yeah things have been… interesting to say the least! It’s my year abroad that is starting to raise the food issues now- like first year all over again but in another language… joy!