THE number of gluten-free products available on prescription to Warrington patients has been cut.

Following consultations, the government has taken the decision to restrict how many gluten-free foods can be prescribed to bread products and flour mixes.

These changes have now come into force in Warrington, affecting residents who suffer from coeliac disease from Friday, October 12.

Gluten-free products have been available on the NHS since the late 1960s, but a wider range of such foods are now available in supermarkets.

The changes could save the NHS £25million per year.

Dr Sangeetha Steevart, GP and clinical lead for primary care at NHS Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Decisions like this are always difficult and changes can be quite challenging.

“However, the NHS nationally and locally has a duty to spend NHS funds as fairly as possible.

“It is important to make the point that there are several other medical conditions where a special diet avoiding certain ingredients is essential, but almost all of these are not funded by the NHS.

“To implement these national changes locally, patients will be contacted individually to let them know of the changes.

“Patients will also be directed to a resource pack to help patients find alternative ways of following a gluten-free diet.”

Changes to how patients in Warrington order repeat prescriptions are also being rolled out to more GP surgeries in the town.

Pilot projects have seen residents going directly to some practices for repeat prescriptions instead of receiving them from pharmacies.

Now more medical centres will also adopt the changes.

Dr Steevart added: “After an evaluation of the first two phases of this project, we’re working with more practices to implement the changes to the way repeat prescriptions are ordered.

“We’ve listened to the feedback from people and we have included these comments in the updated patient materials to ensure that our explanation for implementing the project and information about the alternative methods of ordering repeat prescriptions is clearer for patients to understand.

“We know that change can bring challenges and this news may be daunting for some but it is necessary to ensure we monitor and control medicines more closely for  patient safety and to reduce the amount of NHS money wasted through unused prescriptions.”

The project will be implemented in stages in a number of practices across town.

Patients are asked to check with their practices to see if they are affected.