Gareth Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve services for people with coeliac disease; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
The treatment of coeliac disease is a lifelong gluten-free diet. It is therefore important clinicians understand the symptomatic picture of the condition and the investigations required to support an appropriate diagnosis. It is also important that patients who are diagnosed with coeliac disease are given suitable advice and support about how to manage their diet accordingly and can be referred to specialist services if clinically appropriate.
To support NHS services in the diagnosis, treatment care and support of children and adults with coeliac disease, in September 2015 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence updated its best practice guideline Coeliac disease: recognition, assessment and management. The new guideline sets out seven recommendations to improve services for coeliac patients and includes implementation advice for the local NHS on the provision of the laboratory testing and interpretation of results and access to healthcare professionals trained to give specialist dietetic advice in relation to coeliac disease. The guidance can be found at the following link
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng20
