A national charity set up to support coeliac sufferers has hit out at the proposed cuts to gluten-free prescriptions.
Coeliac UK is concerned the cuts will leave vulnerable patients without support, affecting their ability to stick to a gluten-free diet, the only treatment for coeliac disease. Long-term effects of not maintaining a gluten-free diet include osteoporosis (brittle bones), unexplained infertility and, in rare cases, small intestine cancer.
Coeliac UK believes scrapping prescription food will cost the NHS more money in the long run.Wait, so because you can’t get food that’s safe to eat on the taxpayer, you’ll stuff your face with the food you know will make you unwell rather than, say, just avoiding it and eating other food instead?
Sarah Sleet, chief executive of Coeliac UK, said: “The suggestion to remove gluten-free prescription services for everyone of all ages, regardless of circumstances, with coeliac disease is being based on budgets rather than patient need.
“The provision of gluten-free staple food on prescription is a vital element of the support offered to these patients by the NHS and it is essential to prevent long term damage to health.”Hmm, no, sorry, love. There’s an option you haven’t considered, isn’t there? Have a salad. No gluten in that!
Ms Sleet added: “For someone medically diagnosed with coeliac disease there is no choice but to stick to a gluten-free diet, day in day out for life, and so access to gluten-free staples is critical, but not as easy as you might think.
“The expansion of Free From aisles in large supermarkets masks the reality of very patchy provision. In particular, small stores and budget supermarkets have little, if any, gluten-free staples.
“What’s more, prices make such products unaffordable for some.
“Both these issues put the most needy at risk – those on a limited budget or with limited mobility.”So go without. Plenty of alternatives.
Good grief, I love cherries, but if they made me deathly ill, I’d have no compunction about removing them from my diet!
2 comments:
Most major supermarkets now deliver straight to your door. A lot of friends, family and neighbours shop for those who cannot get around so easily. And most adults are very capable of making sensible decisions about not eating what makes them ill, as Julia has so succinctly pointed out.
Crying into the begging bowl simply doesn't work these days. People are so sick and tired of being mugged and lectured by legal beggars.
I certainly am.
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