CRAVEN residents are being asked to decide the future of gluten-free food on prescription.

The local NHS - NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) - has launched a consultation about whether gluten-free foods, like bread, flour, cereal and pasta, should continue to be provided on prescription for people with coeliac disease. It currently spends over £100,000 a year for approximately 580 patients.

However, with an increasing demand for services, coupled with financial challenges, the NHS is looking at all products and services provided to as part of a programme known as QIPP – quality, innovation, productivity and prevention – which is about making sure that each pound spent brings maximum benefit and quality of care to patients.

Dr Gordon Wallace, Medicines Management Executive Lead at NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG, said: “We are looking to review everything we spend our money on and this is one of the areas we are considering.

“The CCG spends approximately £100,000 a year on gluten-free foods. Gluten-free prescribing started over 30 years ago when there was little or no alternative in the supermarket.

“Nowadays every big shop has a gluten free aisle at considerably lower prices and due to changing diets and lifestyle choices, there is also a much wider variety of foods available in the shops, supermarkets and online.”

The patient and public consultation will run until Friday,March 31. Anyone living with coeliac disease will be identified by their GP practice and written to so they have a copy of the consultation document and an opportunity to respond and complete a questionnaire.

The CCG would like people to complete a short survey to help them understand what people think about the different options – whether they live with coeliac disease or not. People can share their views, up to 31 March, in a number of ways:

• complete the online questionnaire at: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/65HXF2X

• email: engage@awcccg.nhs.uk

• write to: NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group, Millennium Business Park, Station Road, Steeton, Keighley, BD20 6RB

People also have the opportunity to attend drop-in sessions to make their views known, including one in Skipton on March 3 at Skipton Town Hall from 10.15am to 11.43am.

There are also sessions on January 26 at Central Hall, Keighley and on February 10 at Clarke Foley, Centre, Ilkley