Gluten Free Guerrillas

Join our #CoeliacChat today 4-5pm GMT !

We’ve been wanting to do this for ages but health problems, work and more health problems got in the way! Finally we have some time and our Guerrillas Nutritionist Robyn from Flourish Health will be joining in to help answer questions. 

So for Coeliac Awareness Week we’d like to end on a high by sparking debate on Coeliac Disease and busting some myths. Not all Coeliacs have bloating or bowel problems. It’s actually generally acknowledged as only 1 in 7 that do. And as we know not all Coeliacs feel better on a GF diet… 

However, a lot of people are diagnosed with IBS or Endometriosis or Thyroid problems when they also hav Coeliac Disease which isn’t detected for ages. The average length of time for Coeliac Disease diagnose per person is 13 yrs. We’d like to change that and help people become more aware of the symptoms which don’t always present as stomach pain but can be pelvic pain, skin problems, mood swings, extreme fatigue, joint and muscle pains, depression etc. 

So how does it work? 

This Saturday from 4-5ish we’ll be running a live Tweet chat on ‘Beyond the gut’ from our twitter account T: gfguerrillas 

What’s it about? 

We’ll be answering your key questions about Coeliac disease beyond the small bowel & villi damage. After all we all know that not every Coeliac has bowel problems. Only 1 in 7 do. Many of us have skin issues, fatigue, bone problems, infertility and other auto-immune diseases. There’s also the social problems and mental health issues surrounding being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease. So for our twitter chat we’ll be focusing on issues beyond the small bowel problems. 

We’d love your input 

We know that many of you are fed up feeling ill even on a strict Gluten Free diet. Some of you have lots of questions that health professionals don’t answer for you. Many of you find sites like ours the best for sharing tips and experiences. 

Comment below & tell us what questions you’d like ‘Beyond the gut’ 
i.e. when will I feel better, why do I have skin problems, what can I do to improve my bone health, are there any key vitamins and minerals I should take for my immune system etc etc. Or tweet us your comments @gfguerrillas 

We look forward to your questions…

Feel free to spread the word. Or if you’re a shy type just search #CoeliacChat on twitter on Saturday and follow the discussion as it happens!  Follow it here. 

The Disney Channel mocks a Gluten Free Child Character!

Guerrillas, 

Yes you read that correctly. We were shocked when a post by @glutendude on Twitter caught our eye this afternoon on this. Really? Surely not we thought. But we respect Gluten Dude’s frank blogs and we delved deeper.

We watched the snippet from the childrens programme that Disney makes called ‘Jessie’.  We really couldn’t believe what we were hearing and seeing. But sure enough characters within the show (adults even) all mock and bully a kid called Stuart. Yes we get that Stuart is meant to be an annoying nerd. But maybe Disney aren’t aware that mocking an auto-immune disease just isn’t funny. I mean where is the comedy angle there? ‘Ha you have Hashimotos Thyroid disease, I’ll steal your Thyroxine and swap it with Aspirin’. Odd. ‘Ha you’re a Coeliac or Gluten intolerant so we’ll throw pancakes in your face’ Odd again. Yet this is what the show actually consists of, we kid you not! It is basically like a bad episode of The Teenage Apprentice set in a family setting. 

Perhaps the writers for the show aren’t very well trained or were running low on coffee the day they came up with the idea to make this annoying kid (Stuart) in the show even more annoying (?) by making him Gluten Free as well.  Err really?  Why oh why would any kids TV show want to feature a character who has a health problem and use that as an angle for comedy? I mean can you think of any disease that is in someway funny? Nope neither could we. It’s a really odd take isn’t it?  ’Wheezy asthma child’ ? No not funny. ‘Blind child’? No not funny. ‘Child allergic to nuts’ ? No not funny. ‘Gluten Free child’? Errmmmm - no we still don’t find this funny? So how did the writers and producers at the Disney Channel? We started to think that maybe they were a bit high or hungover when they devised the idea of the show…

Or perhaps there was serious case of group think the day they came up with that script idea! Did the lead producer hate a Gluten Free kid when he was at school? Who knows. Who cares. Either way the programme is wrong on so many levels. 

What can you do?

So as always Guerrillas we believe in positive pester power. We urge you to view the original blog post & video snippet of the show on Gluten Free Dude’s blog here. After all don’t just take our word for it..check it out yourself. 

Then we’d love you to follow in our footsteps and just take a minute to sign the Change.org petition to get the attention of the Disney team. This afternoon the numbers were just at 100s of signatures. Now as we write this they’ve just hit 1000!  C’mon Guerrillas let’s help make it 2000!

The irony is that Disney have aired the show in the middle of Celiac Awareness Month in the USA & Coeliac Awareness Week in the UK. Talk about very bad timing! Not that there would be a good time - but you know what we mean peeps. 

Show the Disney Channel team that Coeliacs aren’t to be bullied or laughed at. We’re normal people with a lifelong disease that isn’t a topic for comedy. Try harder Disney Channel. Get some real creative writers in. Oh and try and remember that a kids show is educating the youth of today for tomorrow. So you know make it a bit more friendly. You could try reading some Mr Men and Roald Dahl books to see how kids stories are done well! 

How about starting with this one, 

And don’t forget to share this on Twitter & Facebook tweeps or reblog this. Let’s get Disney to hear the voice of all Coeliacs & Celiacs. Being an adult Coeliac is hard enough. Imagine if your Coeliac child watched this. What would they think?

Sign the petition, click here. 

Save the DS Gluten Free Bonta D’Italia Pizza!

Guerrillas, 

As regular readers will know we’re not big fans of fast food as lots of ‘Free From’ Gluten Free food is just packed full of salt, sugar and fat. It always strikes us as ironic as to how unhealthy some of the so called ‘Free From’ food can be. However, we all lead busy lives and sometimes it’s very handy to be able to grab a frozen pizza and bung it in the oven just like our gluten munching friends. 

So when we spied on Facebook today that the much loved, (by us & fellow Coeliac Bloggers & shoppers), frozen DS Bonta D’Italia cheese & tomato pizza had been de-listed from ASDA were very disappointed. Especially as this is #CoeliacAwarenessWeek and we’re all for more choice not less for us Coeliacs!  Plus DS (aka Dietary Specials) were one of THE only GF brands around when were first diagnosed. They were the early pioneers of Ciabatta Gluten Free bread, crackers and the like. 

Let’s be honest. Most Free From ‘gluten’ replacement foods taste pants! Many products are more similar to the cardboard they are packaged in. Yes we’ve all been there. And much of the prescription food is the same. 

However, in recent years small and large new brands have hit the high street and revitalised the Free From market. From Sweet Mandarins, Perkier to Genius and Newburn Bakehouse. We’ve tried a fair few frozen pizzas and although none of them taste like ‘gluten’ pizzas we liked DS’s the most as it was the nearest we’ve found to a frozen pizzas that tastes ‘good’ once you’ve added some of your own fresh toppings to it. 

So we’re pleased to see that DS aren’t giving up without a fight and have launched a ‘Save our Bonta D’Italia’ pizza campaign.

We love a nice campaign so in true GFG spirit we’d urge any pizza fans amongst you to join in and share your views and comments with DS so that they can re-launch the pizza in another supermarket. 

Join in: 

• Fill in DS’s short survey about which supermarkets you regularly shop at here 
• Comment on their Facebook page here 
• Tweet them your support here 
• Don’t forget to let them know that GFGs told you to join in ; )
• You can still buy Bonta D’Italia at Tescos but of course not eveyone has one near them

We’d love to see the pizza restocked at Sainsbury’s or Ocado as they normally have a great selection of Gluten Free friendly brands. 

PS: Just in case you were wondering this is a totally impartial blog post. We’re not getting paid in frozen pizza, (wouldn’t that be nice), or even paid for that matter. We just get real annoyed when supermarkets cut down the GF choices. After all there’s very little Free From choice in the frozen aisle as there is, cutting it surely isn’t the way forward. 

Psst Pizza Express offers…

Guerrillas, 

Don’t forget that if you’re going to try the new Gluten Free Menu at Pizza Express check out their offers. At the moment they have two good ones on the go…

1)   25% off main courses*

*this isn’t valid over Sun/Mon during the bank holiday but it’s worth a look outside of these dates

2) 3 courses for £12.95 - Weekend Special

Now what’s really odd about this is that the new GF pizza is included as part of the offer. But it won’t take you long to suss that the starter & dessert options aren’t GF. We haven’t asked the 101 questions about whether the ice cream is GF. It maybe. But you begin to take our point. See below…

Hmmm. Odd.

However, there is hope. Some branches are kind enough to bend the offer rules and allow you to choose a GF starter (of the same value as the offer ones) and likewise with the desserts. So we managed to have a lovely 3 course lunch with a business colleague yesterday with salted almonds for the starter, GF pizza for main and raspberry sorbet (minus the gluten twirl stick). Don’t be silly and try and ask for the GF risotto & fudge cake as they’re two of the most expensive starters and desserts and they’re v unlikely to bend the rules for that. 

Do remember that the T&Cs don’t allow substitutions so if your local brand is kind enough to bend the rules for you make sure you tip well and show that Coeliacs appreciate their help. 

The good news is you can download the offer code to your phone. The bad news is you have to decide what restaurant you want to eat at. So ask first if they’ll swap to GF starters and desserts for you, then speedily download the code. 

Head office - please please please make the offers more inclusive of gluten free options. We like a good bargain like anyone else!

How to grab the offers…

Just click here to log onto the Pizza Express website to claim the offers. 

Enjoy and send us your feedback!

Our review: Pizza Express’s NEW gluten free menu!

We took up the invite to try out the new gluten free menu from Pizza Express on Tuesday evening, the day of the launch. 

We had been pleased to find elements in Pizza Express’s press release that demonstrated they had gone further than other companies which have recently jumped on the Gluten Free bandwagon. For example they were clear to point out that their normal gluten pizza bases were rolled out with flour. So they had taken the decision to remove this contamination risk by swapping the flour to gluten free flour instead. A great move! It’s often the little details that make a difference to being glutened or not when eating out so when we read they’d taken this sensible approach we were optimistic about the experience we’d have. 

Their press release was also reassuring with care taken to explain how they had taken measures to reduce the risk of cross contamination and adopted, 

’.. a rigorous training programme to ensure its restaurant teams are familiar with the needs of customers who cannot eat gluten and new ways of working. Separate ladles will be used to spread PizzaExpress’ famous Passata sauce onto gluten-free bases, while new mozzarella packets and Passata jars will be opened when preparing gluten-free pizzas.  Clean pizza peels (the large spade-like utensils used to take the pizzas out of the oven) will be used, while new pizza screens (the round, metal frames that the pizzas are stretched onto) have been purchased and will be stored separately to those used for PizzaExpress’ regular pizzas.’

Pizza Express have also been savvy in launching a new gluten free childrens’ menu at the same time, which includes a small kid size GF pizza,

‘Helping children who can’t eat gluten by introducing a gluten-free base and gluten-free desserts’

We were also impressed that they’d made a real point of shouting about their new gluten free menu on their Facebook page by changing the banner picture, something which we don’t think we’ve seen another chain do as yet. All of which made us think that Pizza Express must be committed to this new range. 

It was quite a shock visiting our local branch for the first time in over 5 years. The decor had radically changed and it reminded us of all the meals and birthday party events we’d had there before being diagnosed. It sunk in that like so many other Coeliacs we’d enforced a ban upon ourselves visiting such places, as being surrounded by diners tucking into crunchy garlic bread and tasty pizzas whilst we ate a bowl of salad leaves was never fun. It reinforced to us that the big difference that a chain like Pizza Express makes by devising a gluten free menu is access and choice and ultimately freedom. 

One of our team has a Hen do coming up and has already been trying to research the local restaurants where they’re visiting to see if there’s any that will do gluten free properly. Just like Starbucks and their gluten free rolls Pizza Express offers all Coeliacs the comfort that no matter where they may visit in the UK they should at least be able to locate a Pizza Express and dive in and eat safely. For as much as some Coeliacs may dismiss chains for their formulaic food and worry about the health effects of calorie laden pizza and pasta, we can’t ignore the fact that when one launches a gluten free menu and does it well, they offer continuity and safety for us as everything is led by the head office. 

The Ordering….

We expected the ordering to be simple.

However, one look at the menu and we had to read it twice. Some items had NGCI (no gluten containing ingredient logos) next to them i.e. the Marcona salted almonds. However, others that we thought should be naturally gluten free like the Polenta chips* and Sorbet dessert didn’t. When you look over the pizza choices it doesn’t become much clearer. There’s two choices of pizzas Romano and Classic. At the bottom of the menu a black box explains that the Classic pizzas can be made with gluten free bases. But there was no mention about which toppings were also gluten free. [*these aren’t GF due to the manufacturing process].

Which of course meant we still had to ask the poor waiter the usual 101 questions ref what we could order, how it was cooked and what toppings were actually gluten free. This was a bit disappointing as we think given that this was a big launch for Pizza Express their menu designers could have worked harder to make it simpler. It implied to us that although the gluten free options had been tested recently in Oxfordshire they hadn’t been tested throughly enough, at least not by picky Coeliacs or more bloggers. 

In fact one of us was totally confused and thought that the green boxes on the menu corresponded to the GF items as many just happened to have NGCI (no gluten containing ingredients) next to them. This was not the case. Some items which were from the old menu, and were naturally gluten free weren’t given the NGCI label which seemed a bit of a missed opportunity.

Although it’s nice to feel included and have one menu for all diners so you don’t feel like the ‘only Coeliac in the village’ we think that it’d be a lot simpler for Pizza Express to follow the lead of Zizzi (their sister company) and Carluccios and launch dedicated gluten free menus so there’s less confusion and less unnecessary questions for busy waiters.

However, we can understand that Pizza Express may have wanted to be inclusive and keep the GF items on the main menu so Coeliac customers don’t feel like second class diners. We admire this approach but think their designers can do more to simplify the gluten free ordering process and highlight suitable GF dishes. Grumble over. So what did we actually have…?

What we ate….

Starter:

- Risotto d’Oro £5.45

- Tomato and Mozzarella salad with pesto £4.95

Mains:

- Padana pizza  £11 ish

- Fiorentina £8 ish

- with coleslaw £2.95

- Green’s Gluten Free Pilsner £4.45 (330ml)

- A Gin and Tonic 

Dessert:

- Gluten Free Brownie (we asked for cream with this) and it came with complementary coffee £4.25

- Raspberry sorbet (minus the gluten twirl stick) aprox £4+

What we thought overall ….

Overall we really like the menu. How refreshing to actually be able to order a starter, a main AND a dessert!  Hello restaurateurs take note - it’s the 21st century and Coeliacs want to eat out with their friends. Freedom at last!

Our experience…

Fortunately the very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable staff were on hand to help explain which of the pizza toppings were OK to choose.  

The toppings that are off the menu for Coeliacs because they either contain gluten or are made in the same facility where there is gluten are: 

• Meatballs
• Hot spiced beef

And these sauces are also off the pizza menu for Coeliacs, 

• Gruyere sauce
• Parmesan sauce

Find out more online. 

It would make sense though to clearly mark this on the menu as at busy times having to ask a waiter for more details could put some customers off and not everybody is happy to question their waiters in depth when out for a meal - unlike us! 

Our starters were the new butternut squash risotto, (with Gorganzola cheese) and the tomato and mozzarella salad with pesto dressing. These arrived promptly and looked lovely. 

Unfortunately after just one mouthful of the risotto each we were struggling.  

It was extremely salty. As if you’d swallowed a sip of the Med sea.  We spoke to the waitress who checked with the kitchen who thought the cause was the cheese within the dish.  They kindly offered to make us another without the cheese.  So we asked for the cheese to be put in a side bowl for us to add as required. 

We tucked into the tomato and mozzarella whilst we were waiting and this was very nice, and everything you’d expect a tomato mozzarella salad to be, simple and refreshing. 

When the second risotto arrived we keenly tried this out.  It was much better than the first.  However, we soon realised that it was seasoned and already had the addition of salt from the stock used.  So of course by adding the cheese this had made the first one unpleasantly salty.  We suggested that as the risotto was smallish (starter size) the addition of such a large quantity of cheese to an already salted risotto wasn’t necessary (as you can see from our picture below that’s a lotta cheese for an ickle starter).  

We also didn’t really understand the big bunch of Rocket added to the dish. We do love our greens but a few versus a lot would’ve been better. But these are all very minor quibbles. The Risotto was much much better when we just added a few cubes of the cheese to it ourselves. 

We couldn’t praise the staff enough, they were very helpful and keen to ensure that we both had food we could eat and enjoy.

Green’s GF Beer was fab. But it did seem odd it was served in a Peroni beer glass. We’re sure other customers wouldn’t care but as a Coeliac it would be nice to see it in a plain glass or a Green’s branded one to show that the GF drink side of things had been thought through to the final touches. 

For the main course of course we had both opted for the NEW gluten free pizza.  The ingredients of the new base are, 

• Maize Starch, modified tapioca starch, rice flour, potato protein 

Plus it’s, 

• Egg Free
• Dairy Free 
• Wheat Free (nil codex wheat starch yay!)
• Vegan & suitable for Vegetarians*
  *See their full allergy / ingredients here 

Of course what you’re all really dying to know is ‘what was the pizza like?!’. After the confusion of what toppings were available we plumped for a Fiorentina (egg, spinach, olives) and a Padana (Goats cheese, mozzarella, spinach, red & caramelised onions, garlic oil).

These both arrived on a black slate (used to differentiate between the gluten free pizzas).  Both looked delicious.  For the Fiorentina we had asked for the egg to be medium set but not hard.

The waitress asked if the egg was OK and at first glance it did appear to be so as the egg looked set on top.  But after moving some of the topping to cut into the pizza it was clear that the egg, although appearing set on the yolk, had clear liquid egg white in the body of the pizza.  So unfortunately we had to call back our lovely waitress again and ask for it to be cooked a bit longer. After which it was perfect.

It was in fact crisper on the edge that the Padana pizza and we much preferred this. The waitress explained that we were the first people they’d cooked any of the gluten free pizzas for and they’d cooked it for the same time as the would do normally for the (evil) gluten ones. They realised that cooking the gluten free pizzas varied a bit as the heat didn’t travel through the pizza in quite the same way as the gluten ones. 

We didn’t enjoy the Padana as much as the Fiorentina as we didn’t realise it came with the very sweet onion relish all over it. As you can see by our picture the Fiorentina was our favourite!

We were stuffed by now but ploughed on to try the desserts - all in the name for good research for you Dear Readers!  We preferred the raspberry sorbet (minus the gluten twirl stick) off the menu to the new gluten brownie as we’re not very sweet toothed. The sorbet was as tasty as it was pretty!

But we can imagine brownie fans loving this new addition to the gluten free menu. 

[Brownie contains egg and soy and is listed as nut free on their Allergen menu although always double check in the restaurant]

And indeed our waitress said this was now her favourite and they’d already had people visit that evening just for coffee and the brownie. So it seems this will be an instant hit amongst Coeliacs and gym bunnies alike. 

The analysis…

Just like any good review you can’t beat a pros and cons list so here’s ours:

Pros:

• The tomato and morazella starter was lovely, fresh tasting pesto  - flavour heaven. We just wish they’d hurry up and do a great bruschetta and garlic bread as well! And GF dough balls…
• The presentation was great, the pizzas really stood out on the black pizza boards and it was a clever way for staff to ensure they don’t mix up pizza bases as only the GF pizzas are served on this
• The crust had a comforting ‘Rich Tea’ biscuit flavour which allowed the toppings to shine
• The base was crispy around the outer edge
• The tomato sauce flavour was authentic and tasted of real tomatoes
• The coleslaw was eye catching and quirky made from purple cabbage with apple added for extra sweetness, half the team liked it half found it too sweet - either way it was different and we liked it for that reason
• The raspberry sorbet was devine, very natural tasting and tart so that you feel it’s punch in the back of your cheeks. A great choice for dairy free or lactose free coeliacs. 
• Including coffee with the brownie is a nice touch so you have a full dessert experience
• The brownie was well balanced, not too sweet, firm and tasted of almonds giving it good texture and taste

Cons:

• The pizza base texture needs work, it was more like a nice naan bread (not uncommon as finding the holy grail of the perfect crispy pizza base is always tricky and cooking them differs to the timings you’d use for normal gluten ones) yet it was one of the best we’ve ever tasted
• There was too much topping in the middle on both pizzas making the centre soggier, we fed this back to the staff and they were pleased to have the feedback and would experiment with cooking this with less in the centre themselves
• We loved the choice of gluten free beer but at £4.45 a bottle (330ml) we fear that only one or two die hard Coeliac beer fans will order one or two, especially when the Aspall cider is just £3.95 per (300ml) bottle. 
• Our arm muscles were exhausted by the end of the meal, like a lot of gluten free pizza chain pizza bases (Ask & Prezzo) they weren’t crispy enough to cut like a normal pizza so we found ourselves in a constant battle with our knife and fork of trying to cut away a slice, great for our biceps not so great for relaxing dining. 
• We’d recommend that Pizza Express invest in some different coloured pizza cutters and that the waiters cut the pizza up into slices at your table for you so it’s easier to eat
• The brownie was nice but tiny..true dessert fans may be disappointed by the size

Our Scores….

Service 8/10 

(We scored this due to having a long wait to be served as it was full of yummy mummies with unruly children causing a ruckas. Whatever happened to parents teaching their children good manners when eating out?)

Staff knowledge 9/10

Three members of staff all separately explained the new cross contamination issues, (two of them unprompted), and they’d all said they’d learnt new things about Coeliac Disease as part of the training they’d had so we think if Pizza Express can keep this training up for new staff then they’re onto something good!

Coeliac Factor 7/10

We weren’t made to feel like ‘pain in the ass Coeliacs’ but we still had to ask a lot of questions which we know shyer coeliacs won’t do. So if they made their menu clearer then that’d be great. It’d also be good if they made it clearer which items were dairy free as most Coeliacs have to avoid this during the first year of diagnosis. Also marking up the items that could easily be adapted to GF would be lovely. We know chains sometimes don’t like to as there’s a risk that staff may make mistakes but if there is a good internal process/ guide then this should work well. Nandos are good at this so Pizza Express could do more and widen their appeal to more Coeliacs and those with other dietary restrictions. 

Pizza 8/10 

In our opinion pizza is all about the base. We say it’s on a level with ASK’s GF base but blows Prezzo’s out of the water. We’re also pleased that the base is both gluten free and dairy free. A good touch that other chains miss. If they can get more crunch factor in their pizza bases we’d definitely up our scores. We suspect they could easily do this by just cooking them for a few minutes longer. 

Would we recommend it to a friend or newbie coeliac?

Yes! At last there’s a place to go on nearly every high street where you can get a safe, tasty and enjoyable meal and gf beer!

Don’t forget…!

Pizza Express do a lot of offers. At the moment there’s 25% off main courses until the 23rd of May. Just click here to find out more on their website. Likewise the Pizza Express apps on iOS and Android also feature news and offers.

And there’a always apps like Vouchercloud and similar which means that now Coeliacs can actually bag a bargin meal just like everyone else!

If you want to keep up to date with Pizza Express’s developments of their gluten free menu be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter. 

What do you think?

Have you tried the new adult or gluten free kids menu? What do you think?

PS: we’ve had lots of lovely comments on this review on our Facebook Page. For those of you with Coeliac Disease and other dietary restrictions here’s Pizza Express’s full list of allergens so you view what you can eat in full. Enjoy. 

Pizza Express UK launch their Gluten Free menu today!

Guerrillas,

Are you excited by the news that Pizza Express have launched a gluten free menu today?

We’re off to try their new menu and we’ll be posting a full review soon. So watch this space ; )

Is it an April Fool joke? Today the NHS is restructured

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last few years you can’t have failed to notice that the coalition Government has been planning how to restructure the NHS in England. Those with long memories will remember that this goes directly against the Conservative’s election campaign pledge poster (below). 

However, there’s been very little real in depth press coverage of these changes. Indeed some NHS campaign groups have accused the Government of creating a media black out on the topic. 

So we thought that as the Government’s NHS reforms in England come into force today it would be useful to give you a simple run down of the changes, as each and everyone of us will be touched by the changes in some way. 

Why are NHS changes being made?

The simple fact is that NHS costs are rising at a much higher rate than inflation. This is due to factors such as our aging population, the high costs of new drugs and treatments and lifestyle factor costs such as treating obesity. The Government argues that without radical changes services would have to be greatly rationed in future. 

What you need to know… 

1) GP-led groups (called CCGs, Commissioning Care Groups) have now taken control of local budgets 

This means that CCGs (led by GPs) will decide on how funds will be spent on local health services from hospitals to community based clinics in England. There will be 211 of these groups and they replace the role previously provided by the PCTs (Primary Care Trusts). 

“CCGs will be the new rationers of care. This concerns doctors because they are very uncomfortable with having to take rationing decisions,” Porter said. “The General Medical Council’s ‘duties of a doctor’ says the first one is to make the care of your patient your first concern, and we’re being dragged away from that.” Dr Mark Porter, Guardian, Monday 1 April 2013

Pros: GPs are closer to their patients & their services that those civil servants in Ivory towers 

Cons: Few GPs have the additional time or training to manage these changes, many have stated in the media that their hands are tied as they have to follow Government cuts. The perception is that they will have freedom as to how budgets are spent, the reality is…yet to be discovered 

2) A new board, NHS England, will oversee the day-to-day running of health services 

SHAs (Strategic Health Authorities) which previously provided oversight of services are being scrapped. Instead that job will be done instead by the NHS Commissioning Board, headed by Sir David Nicholson. This board will be responsible for special budgets and services e.g. complex surgery, rare cancers and areas like dentistry.

Pros: this may create more joined up thinking 

Cons: does it add another layer of bureaucracy to an already complicated organisation? 

3) 152 primary care trusts are scrapped 

Pros: will the new NHS England board ensure greater consistency and communication across regions, helping eradicate post code lottery decisions? 

Cons: will it make it harder for local people to have a body to complain to and have transparency and clarity on what is happening to health services in their local area? 

4) Private companies now make up more of the NHS 

To date just 3.5% of elective operations like hip and knee ops were done by the private sector. This is set to rise under the new regime. 

Pros: will this make access to treatment simpler, quicker and more efficient? 

Cons: or will this mean that private companies will simply cherry pick services and treatments that they want to offer - which are the most profitable for them? Will we find that some vital services not profitable and so waiting lists are extended? Will there be pressure for GPs to use private providers to ‘save costs’? Is this the start of a slippery slope that will slowly erode the very nature of the public NHS? 

5) Your local Council will now have a key role

Councils will run public health services. This will include everything from obesity reduction programmes, stop smoking services to healthy lifestyle promotions. Of course local government has already been playing a role in these areas - often through partnerships with primary care trusts. They have been given a budget of £3bn a year.

Pros: the new thinking behind these changes is that councils will have powers over things such as schools to leisure services. 

Cons: this means that local Councils will have huge power over how we live our lives. Many of us already have individual gripes with how our councils run local services like litter collection and road maintenance. Do we trust them to more efficient with our healthcare?

Will you notice a big difference in health services?

Yes & No. 

Over the next few weeks your local GP surgery and hospital will probably look and act the same as it did before the changes came into effect. 

But…over the next few months and years the changes will influence our health service in the most radical way ever. 

Some of the most expensive diseases for the NHS to manage are heart disease, diabetes and dementia. There’s no magic cure for these diseases. The NHS needs to consider how to manage patients effectively with these long term diseases in the most cost effective way, whilst meeting their individual needs so that they can continue to live healthy and balanced lives. Currently many hospital A&E beds are taken up by people with life long diseases and problems associated with old age. We know we live in an aging population so the strains upon the NHS will continue to grow. Perhaps some of the NHS reforms will enable a greater range of community services to bridge this gap between GP and hospital health care?  Or will we see a rise in Private Health care provision for services which are most profitable and less integrated care for long term non profitable conditions?

What do you think? 

Love or loathe the new NHS reforms? 

Do you think that Coeliac services will be cut? Will there be even less prescription food available? Will Coeliac check-ups be cut (from our past surveys it seems like only a tiny minority of you actually have annual check-ups anyway)? Or do you embrace the changes? Would you like to see the NHS fully privatised? Or do you fear that we’ll end up like the USA with a two tier healthcare system i.e. for those that can afford to pay for it versus the poor who cannot? 

Do these changes alter the very ethos of Bevan’s original aims for the NHS?

Discover more: 

BMJ on health reforms

NHS Shake up and patient trust

BBC News

Keep our NHS public

Is there anyone that likes the new NHS reforms?

An end to Bevan’s dream?

Health Before the NHS

Does Lidl lead us towards a perfect Gluten Free future?

Imagine going into your local supermarket and being greeted by this display inside the door (that’s right it’s a floor to ceiling gluten free display!). 

Lidl are shouting loudly and proudly about their gluten free promotion. 

What if…

Imagine swinging round to your supermarket Free From aisle and finding shelves groaning with gluten free foods instead of the usual empty spaces, out of date products and worse, mouldy offerings!

We were delighted to see that Lidl had chosen to carry out a gluten free food promotion in their Irish stores and we looked longingly at their online brochure which detailed the goodies on offer.

 [Lidl Gluten Free Booklet 2013]

Gluten Free Forever

However, this got us wondering why this couldn’t be a permanent selection and why other shops can’t offer this extensive range? 

It’s obvious to anyone who’s purchased gluten free foods that there is a profit to be made.  Gluten free means ‘much more expensive’ (more like triple the price of mainstream foods!) so why is the Coeliac customer not treated with a bit more respect? 

On occasion we’ve struggled to find the tiny fixture which contains a poor selection of gluten free foods badly displayed.  We’ve also felt quite excited with our find and wonder why we’re so grateful to find that there’s something in the shop that we can give over our hard earned money for, when in most cases it’s the type of product wouldn’t have looked at twice before being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease. 

We’ve struck up conversation with store staff and been told that there’s no stock ‘because it’s a slow seller’, or ‘the promotion has proved popular’ and  ’someone came in and bought all the breakfast cereals’, and ‘the bread is mouldy because of the packaging’.  Many a time we have pulled out of date stock off the shelves and dropped it off on the customer service desk, where we’ve sometimes received a token apology.

So if large supermarkets don’t care about Coeliac customers then why do they bother to stock the Free From goods? 

There are many online shops out there which offer a wide range of gluten free products, with the catch that you have to pay a hefty postage fee unless you complete a large order.  There’s also the option, for diagnosed Coeliacs of paying for an annual prescription card and trying to get your foods on prescription. This is an attractive option for some Coeliacs who are also wheat free and find that some of the supermarket offerings don’t cater for them as their products can contain codex wheat starch. Whereas those on prescription normally give you the option, for example with bread, to choose the non-codex wheat starch version.

So what do you think? 

Is it time that Coeliacs rose up and demanded supermarkets offer more gluten free choice than the handful of bread, pasta and cakes in the Free From aisle?  Is it time for gluten free food to become as mainstream as vegetarian food? 

Is it time retailers fulfilled their age old aim to offer consumers ‘choice’?  Do we need gluten free options to become so common that they become part of the mainstream?  Do we even need a free from aisle if gluten free labelling really outlined what was gluten free?

Marks and Spencers have successfully integrated gluten free options throughout their mainstream range.

[GF crispbakes alongside the ‘normal’ gluten crispbakes’]

[Subtle GF logo on the front of the Xmas party food packet]

We’ve seen what what Lidl can do. Wouldn’t it be nice to just shop like everyone else instead of be funnelled off into a desolate aisle that isn’t replenished regularly with out of date and mouldy bread on offer at triple the price of ‘normal’ bread? 

We think the time has come to demand more.

Tell us what you think?

WHEN I FIRST TRIED READING INGREDIENT LABELS TO SEE IF SOMETHING WAS GLUTEN FREE

wheniwentglutenfree:

So true!

(Source: thatssostate)