Follow up on our meeting with the Department of Health

June 21, 2017

Yesterday, Tuesday 20 June we took our prescriptions campaign to the Government in a meeting with the Department of Health to fight to retain access to prescribing and to make the case for the continuation of gluten free prescribing, especially for the most vulnerable.

They have already received over 6,000 responses to the consultation, which includes 4,500 from individuals so a very big thank you to so many of you for taking the time to respond. They explained the response was ten times the amount they normally receive.

The deadline for the consultation is tomorrow, 22 June at midday so if you rely on access to gluten free food on prescription and haven’t already submitted a response, please complete the consultation and include how you or your family will be adversely affected by the proposed change.

However, this is not the end!

The report on the consultation will not be published until the autumn and in the meantime we will be continuing to fight the case to retain access to gluten free prescribing. And now that parliament is back, we will be stepping up our lobbying of MPs on this issue. If you are in England and you or your family are likely to be badly affected by the removal of access to gluten free staples from the NHS, then we want to encourage you to write to your constituent MP to tell your story and explain why access is important for people with coeliac disease. We have produced a template letter to give you a start.

You can read our guide to responding to consultations on prescribing, please note the national consultation from the Department of Health closes on 22 June at midday.