there should be more help for people that need gluten free foods

[boomingrosemary2]

I have celiac disease so I can't have bread, cakes or pasta. The cost of the free from foods is sometimes 500% more! I get a free prescription for bread and pasta but sometimes I fancy a cake or something. Just looked at some small cakes, similar size but the normal one was 50p the free from was 2.49!

Aibu to think we should get more help with these?

both dd and I are allergic to dairy products. we get one help and dairy free is equally as expensive and harder to adapt recipes to do things at home.

yabu - as others have said learn to bake or use non gluten containing foods

whereisthelight that's interesting. I have done both gluten free and dairy free and I find gf much more difficult (recipe wise) and expensive. What dairy free stuff are you finding that expensive (nosy)?

BarbarianMum I said the same earlier. Dairy free is cheaper and easier than gluten free.

Everyone saying 'bake your own' obviously has never faced real financial hardship. Baking ends up being more expensive than buying, not just because of the ingredients, but also because of then need of baking utensils and gas/electric, etc.

But surely it works out about the same. If I go shopping buy a loaf of bread, a bag of pasta and a cake it will be at least £2.50.

You go shopping, you have the bread and pasta on prescription and then pay £2.50 for the cake.

We have both paid the same for the same things

There are many, many things you can get on prescription that are unnecessary though...paracetamol and ibuprofen, calpol, sudocreme to name a few.

Those things aren't unnecessary for everyone. Certainly, the time I took a poorly DS1 to the GP with a temperature of about 40.5 Celsius, the GP was insistent that DS1 be given a dose of Calpol and baby ibuprofen ASAP because his temperature was high enough to risk febrile convulsions, and paracetamol and ibuprofen can reduce fevers. She sent me off with a prescription for both of them and told me to bring DS1 back in a few hours so she could check they'd worked.

Yes but you could have bought them . I think that was the point.

Use of the word "unnecessary" implies that paracetamol, ibuprofen, etc are optional extras with no medical benefit to the patient getting the prescription.

Whether the patient (or their parent) should be buying them over the counter without a prescription instead is an entirely different question.

I imagine that the unnecessary was meant to relate to them being on prescription. Easy to misinterpret though.

Unnecessary for a doctor to prescribe.

Not all doctors will prescribe something that can be bought over the counter. Our old doctors had a notice saying please do not ask for Calpol, head lice lotions etc as these can all be purchased from the chemist or supermarkets without the need for a prescription. Was very surprised it even had to be said, it's simpler and quicker to get them yourself and only see a doctor when you actually need too.

Diet items that can be bought elsewhere should be excluded too, nobody needs bread or pasta and the money could be spent on many more things instead like life saving drugs or vaccines.

I'm guessing that getting foods on prescription was originally because you were unable to buy gluten free bread and pasta easily. Now they are so widely available in supermarkets it no longer seems necessary.

I think it's overgenerous for the NHS to provide free free-from foods. I also think it's madness that approximately 90% of prescriptions in England are free (100% elsewhere), costing the financially stretched NHS billions each year. Whilst some people should receive free prescriptions, there is no logic to some groups for whom prescriptions are free.

I avoid gluten and buy some gluten free foods, some of which might cost 50-100% more than wheat based alternatives. OP, have you tried Lazy Day biscuits? Millionaires shortbread, rocky road tiffin - a cake like fix for around £2 a pack of five (much less than 500% increase).

Bread pasta and cakes are not a human right. You can have a healthy and cheap diet without these things (I do).
Cauliflower rice, courgette pasta, I make bread and cakes with coconut flower if I really really fancy it.
I'm allergic to gelatine. It would never occur to me to get a prescription for pectin products.

Marynary Has it spot on, gluten free foods on prescription is a hangover from when gluten free foods were only available on special order through a pharmacy, now you can buy them at any supermarket I don't think they'll survive much longer on prescription.

In my area the guidelines get stricter and stricter, people asking for cake, biscuits and mince pies just reinforces that and actually encourages the NHS to tighten up prescribing guidelines.

The NHS pound can only be spent once, do you want cake for coeliac patients or knee replacements for elderly people with mobility problems?

MN is obviously full of wealthy people, go to your local food bank and you will see lots of requests for free-from food. Wake up people, not everyone can buy GF food even after they have been diagnosed with coeliac, because the diagnosis doesn't come with money.

MrsLindor What's best? NHS spends some money making sure coeliac people can stick to their diet or treating them with fertility treatments, x rays to see how bad their bones are, dealing with cancer, dentists and tooth enamel issues, etc.

I think this fred is full of trolls

MN is obviously full of wealthy people, go to your local food bank and you will see lots of requests for free-from food. Wake up people, not everyone can buy GF food even after they have been diagnosed with coeliac, because the diagnosis doesn't come with money.

MrsLindor What's best? NHS spends some money making sure coeliac people can stick to their diet or treating them with fertility treatments, x rays to see how bad their bones are, dealing with cancer, dentists and tooth enamel issues, etc.

You don't have to be wealthy to be able to afford a gluten free diet nowadays. I doubt that people with coeliac disease are going to start eating gluten if they can no longer get food on prescription so the theory that it saves the NHS money in the long run is unlikely. I think that those on low incomes should receive help with the extra expense but it no longer makes sense for the NHS to provide GF food on prescription for all people with coeliac disease.

EugenedeRastigna you can't go around calling people trolls just because they don't agree with you

Public service announcement for coeliacs: I've just been to Tesco and they had 500g bags of gluten free pasta reduced to 60p

I'm not against those requiring coeliac diets getting some form of help towards keeping a gluten free diet, I'm just not sure that prescribing food is the best value way of doing this. Especially when it can lead to situations like below

NHS 'paid £17 for gluten-free pizza base'

Presumably coeliacs have access to the advice of NHS dieticians? Ensuring people are able to source or prepare their own gluten free alternatives is preferable to financing and sourcing food on a patient's behalf. There are plenty of naturally gluten free products available in supermarkets, as well as like for like alternatives.

I bought loads of the reduced pasta last week. It will keep us going a long time.

Have you tried it yet PrimalLass? It's not a brand I've seen before

YABVU. The foods you mention are non essential and you are already getting the necessities on prescription.

Think of all the money you are saving not buying foods with gluten.

I can't eat gluten either, but there is plenty of other stuff out there.

Yes I've had that brand (Salute) a lot. The spaghetti needs a lot of attention or it sticks badly, but the other shapes are fine.

The stuff on prescription is fortified with vitamins and minerals and the commercially prepared stuff isn't.

You keep saying that but I don't care. Its up to people to consume vitamins not for the NHS to give people fake bread and pasta.

Bread and pasta don't have much goodness in them anyway . the white stuff legally has to be fortified I was once told because it how nutrient void it is.