Rupa Huq MP highlights coeliac disease prescription cuts at Westminster event

Ealing Central and Acton MP Rupa Huq brought together parliamentarians, patients and medical practitioners at a parliamentary drop-in on coeliac disease on Tuesday 23 June, held with Coeliac UK

Coeliac disease affects 1 in 100 people in the UK, and if untreated can cause serious conditions including osteoporosis and, rarely, small bowel cancer. The only treatment is a lifelong gluten free diet, but Coeliac UK research shows a gluten free weekly shop costs 35% more than a standard one, and the cheapest gluten free loaf costs six times as much as a standard one.

NHS England used to offer gluten free staples on prescription, but that support has been rapidly withdrawn since prescribing powers passed to Integrated Care Boards, and around two thirds of coeliac patients in England now live in areas where it has been limited or removed entirely.

Rupa and Coeliac UK told the Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Sharon Hodgson MP, about the postcode lottery, noting patients in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have seen support improve rather than shrink.

Rupa said: ‘We face a cost of living crisis which is exacerbated for the sufferers of coeliac disease, who are paying over the odds, often six times the cost of standard gluten-containing fare. There are also glaring inequalities in how this is dealt with within the British Isles.’

Rupa secured a ministerial meeting to take the issue forward.