Crossed Grain

THE LATEST WWW.COELIAC.ORG.UK 5 News and updates from the world of Coeliac UK THE LATEST Have you followed us on Instagram yet? Find us by searching ‘CoeliacUK’ and be sure to tell your friends and followers. Share your #glutenfree and #coeliacdisease related photos with us by tagging us or using #coeliacuk W e’re thrilled to have made the shortlist for Best Association Team for the Association Excellence Awards #AEA18 . We’ve made the finals for our work on our new look and the service development that we’ve been doing to make accessing quality, expert information easier and help everyone live well gluten free. We find out the results on 12 October. It’s a lovely recognition to receive as we celebrate 50 years of Coeliac UK. Thank you to our community for your ongoing support. But our work doesn’t stop there. We’ve made further improvements to our Gluten free on the Move smartphone app to help you find gluten free food when you’re out and about. We’ve updated the functionality so it mirrors our Venue Guide on our website. We’ve made it easier for our community to find places to eat with our Best for features and share their experiences with their ratings and reviews. Information about food and drink products and shopping can be found in our Gluten free food checker app. And there’s more. We’ve launched our first collection of recipe videos with support from Nestle GoFree. From gluten free pasta to our favourite blueberry and almond tart (find the recipe on page 42), our Home Economist Louise shows you how easy it is to make delicious meals for all the family in your own kitchen. Earlier this year we received funding from Awards for All so that we could produce a weekly meal plan and supporting information to help you with your gluten free diet. We know sticking to a balanced diet and keeping the budget in check can be a challenge. Our weekly plan gives you three meals a day plus snacks, meets the daily nutritional requirements and makes the most of a weekly shopping budget. For a sneak peek at what to expect from the plan, see page 13. Check out our videos and download the meal plan at www.coeliac.org.uk/recipes . HELPING YOU TO LIVE WELL GLUTEN FREE Update on prescriptions in England Following the decision announced in February by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to retain access to gluten free bread and flour mixes on prescription in England, a small number of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have brought their policies in line with this approach. But overall, we’re disappointed with the response as most CCGs are disregarding the statement from the DHSC. We have challenged these CCGs and many of you have also helped us campaign by contacting your CCG and MP. We felt it was necessary to escalate our concerns so we have written to Lord O’Shaughnessy, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health, with a report detailing the response that we have received from CCGs to date. We outlined the main reasons cited by CCGs as to why they’re not planning to reintroduce prescriptions: • Some have stated that the national review has not highlighted any issues which were not identified by their own local consultations • Some CCGs have stated that as they do not legally have to follow the recommended approach, they are choosing not to • Other CCGs have stated that they feel unable to change their decision as their financial situation remains unchanged. The report stresses the need for action to ensure a consistent approach to prescribing in England is achieved. We will keep you updated as the situation progresses.