those who get NHS prescriptions - what g free products and how many do you actually get?

[justjake]

Hi,

I get ten loaves of bread on prescription only as I only eat pasta very occasionally and find that relatively cheap in the supermarket.

How do I get it?

Very simply via a monthly prescription off my doctor.

Hope this helps.

[Apricot]

Depends on several factors...

Your age and/or M/F.

Your GP and the prescribing policy

The PCT or the newer Commissioning Group Policy.

Yes it IS supposed to be a NHS..ie same policy throughout the UK...but in practice..sorry, not true.

I am involved with the Precriptions...and yes I am involved with a gluten free food producer.

Happy to assist wherever I can.

With best wishes for your continued good health

Apricot

[loobylou123 in reply to Apricot]

We used to get loads Pizza Bases, biscuits, pasta, crackers etc. Unfortunately since January 2010 this is no more. There excuse was that food is more readily available over the counter so buy your own !!!!

[Adnil]

I am allowed 14 units per month by Northants PCT, which will go down to 12 units when I am 70! I get bread, pasta and flour mix via my pharmacist. A loaf of bread and pack of pasta are 1 unit each, flour mix is 2 units. Plus Northants PCT does not offer all prescribable items.

[SilverDreamMachine]

Another important consideration is the amount of exercise you do. I`m pretty active and my GP surgery have agreed to an extra 4 units per month, which helps enormously. You may also want to look at making your own bread with prescription flour and a bread maker. I`m a bloke and never made bread before and can now do it in my sleep and it tastes so much better than the ready made stuff. I mix Juvela white and fibre 50/50 with water and dried starch and a little brown suger to tickle the yeast into life and the magic ingredient Xanthan gum.

Best of luck.

[Eggardon in reply to SilverDreamMachine]

Xanthan gum that is funny stuff - not got a handle on it as an ingredient.

Bread making - I mix in a third of buckwheat flour to try and some substance to the Juvela flour. I raise the bread in a cool oven 50degrees and then blast it good and hot. Yum.

[SilverDreamMachine in reply to Eggardon]

The gum doesn`t add anything to the taste, but it acts like gluten and binds the flour together so it just like fresh normal bread, bendy and doughy. You can get it on prescription or Dove Fm do it and sell it in waitrose and maybe other supermarkets.

[robgt]

I am lucky to have a great doctors surgery who are very helpful.

I receive monthly prescribed foods which include Glutafin baguettes and fibre rolls, as well as pasta sheets for lasagne, and long spaghetti.

I don't care for the bread loaves and have had to ditch my love of buttered toast in the morning due to the taste, which I _really_ don't like with GF bread. Life goes on

Cheers,

Rob

[Linzk425]

My son and I are both coeliac. We get, between us, two cases of bread a month, two packets of biscuits and two boxes of pasta*. My son is 9 and can eat half a loaf of bread a day (seriously, 7 slices to a loaf? Whose bright idea was that?) so we also supplement with Warburtons which is far nicer, so nowadays we eat more of that and have the scrip bread for when it's not available (we live in a village near a small town that really doesn't have much GF food ).

*Occasional packet of lasagne and spaghetti but usually spirals.

[Irene Administrator in reply to Linzk425]

Linzk425 are you aware that Warburtons bread is available on prescription?

[justjake in reply to Irene]

That really depends on where you live.

My PCT [Stockport] doesn't allow fresh bread

[justjake in reply to justjake]

Or biscuits,crackers etc.....

[1stgls]

I get a monthly repeat of bread (7loaves) and then order bits extra--such as crispbread and flour, my gp has internet prescription ordering which is useful

[loobylou123]

A lot depends on your own PCT to what you can have per month, it is normally the basics like Pizza bases, digestive biscuits etc. Our PCT only allows us one loaf of bread a month although we do get Juvela and Glutafin white mixes similar to flour,two boxes of each a month, these are not available over the counter and are def worth having. I then got a recipe book from Juvela and Glutafin that has very useful recipes, ie Yorkshire Puddings, drop scones, cakes biscuits, pastry etc. Hope this helps.

[LHine]

I can get lots in West Devon. I don't, because I don't trust the de-glutening process to not be toxic in some other way and I prefer organic. I don't have much money, so that's a lot of rice cakes (oats definitely bad and corn not great for me either), but I've stocked up for being at someone else's house over Christmas.

[jan44]

Hi

I get between 5-7 units a month normally 2 boxes of cereal. pkt of crackers,8 rolls and some pasta. I send in my request to the doctors surgery each month. I live in hope that if I'm not too greedy the GF prescriptions won't get withdrawn!!!

[Hidden]

14 units - 6 packs of white or fibre mix and two pizza bases. I make the bread in a bread machine.

[nickyr73]

My son is over 18 years so cannot get free prescription so buys an annual prepayment prescription certificate which works out much cheaper than buying bread from the supermarket. Glos pct allows 16 items per month on repeat prescription. As mentioned by a previous comment I buy pasta as price isn't too bad, and get bread, rolls and pizza bases on repeat prescription.

[barny]

i am in midlands and get 16units have loads pasta flour rolls savory buscuits sweet biscuits bread so do well realy and pizza bases

[Tora67]

Hi we are in Greater London and my son and husband get the national guided quota as found on Coeliac UK - 14 and 18 units respectively. Like the previous post, buying a bread maker was the best investment we have made - it also has a 'gluten free' mode. The bread tastes like 'normal' bread and you can experiment with varying the ingredients. You can also make dough for other products such as pizza or scones. I would also advise to be wary of the sugar, fat and salt content of 'gluten free' foods and concentrate on a healthy diet without too many processed foods. I also feel the flours and their minimum allowance of 'gluten' is not agreeable for many highly sensitive coeliacs. Sadly I am not surprised by the inequality of prescriptions.

[Hidden]

Thanks for the info - i do bake my own brown bread as the bought stuff is hideous and obviously buy all my own g free food - it is about triple the price of regular food. I am struggling as i already fund my own thyroid medication (cannot take synthetic t4 and nhs refuses to prescribe the meds that work for me) and my own injectable ampoules for pernicious anaemia ( as i have a gp who refuses to dose me adequately).

I dont eat meat so am finding it difficult to get enough quality g free food down me.

I have never eaten biscuits, pizza, etc. I eat a very clean diet but it's difficult and expensive since i had to go g-free

[Maryelle]

I used to get plenty of pasta, pizza bases, bread and biscuits etc

I now get one loaf of bread per month..........

[Hidden]

Sorry I'm a little confused by the gluten free food on prescription thing, if you don't have a pre payment certificate, do you have to pay £7.65 for each item of food each month?