Gluten-free food handed out on prescription to some of Coventry’s coeliac sufferers could be a thing of the past as health chiefs consider where best to direct their limited funds. But such a move will upset a number of councillors who suggested that the £240,000 spent on the service each year was money well spent.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) has carried out a review as part of its prioritisation of NHS services. It found that the prescriptions cost the NHS more than it would cost for people to buy the items off the supermarket shelf. This is due to a combination of the clinician’s time, dispensing fees and delivery charges.

Speaking at the latest health and social care scrutiny board meeting of Coventry City Council , Rachael Danter, the ICB’s chief

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