The Sheffield health authority are allowing us to prescribe gluten free bread and bread mixes again. Unfortunately, other GF products such as biscuits, cake mixes, cereals, cooking aids, pizza bases and pasta cannot be prescribed on the NHS.

Update from Sheffield Health Authority

Gluten Free Prescribing

 South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) (The people who make decisions about the NHS in South Yorkshire) have approved prescribing gluten free bread and bread mixes for people with proven Coeliac disease or Dermatitis Herpetiformis (a skin condition).

Gluten free products such as biscuits, cake mixes, cereals, cooking aids, pizza bases and pasta cannot be prescribed on the NHS.

 Gluten free brands

 For us to be able to provide a prescription we need to know the brand and item you want.

 The taste of gluten free products varies a lot between brands. Please only order brands that you know you like. e.g ones you are currently buying or have tried samples of (these can be ordered from the manufacturers). There is a list of manufacturers on page 4.

 Products available

Coeliac UK is a good source of information about Coeliac disease (https://www.coeliac.org.uk) and they have produced a list of the products available on prescription -which can be found on pages 5-7.

 Quantity of gluten free products available on prescription

 The maximum number of “units” you are allowed per month varies and is set by the ICB (we cannot increase this amount).

 

Child under 10	8
Child 11-18	12
Female 19 and over       Last 3 months of pregnancy       Breast feeding	8 +1 +4
Male 19 and over	12

                Different products count as different numbers of items.

 

400g loaf of bread	1 item
100 – 250g rolls / baguettes	0.5 item
251 – 400g rolls / baguettes	1 item
500g bread mix / flour mix / mixes	2 items

 Prescription charges

 If you pay for your prescriptions there will be a prescription charge for each different type of product. Buying a pre-payment certificate (PPC), which covers the cost of all items on prescriptions (including medications), could save you money. You can ask at any chemist or look on the NHSBSA website for more information. However, you may find that it is cheaper to continue buying your gluten free products from a supermarket than having them on prescription. 

More information

 If you need more information please can you arrange a telephone appointment with one of our pharmacy team.

 Ordering a prescription

 If you would like to request a prescription please can you jot down what you would like on a piece of paper with your full name, address and date of birth on. We need to know the brand, the item and the number of items you would like. Please ensure you do not request more than the ICB allow us to prescribe. We will then add these items to your repeat prescription.

 As we are contacting everyone who is eligible there may be a delay in issuing the prescription. Please bear with us and allow us at least 14 days to action your request.