Issue - meetings

Report of the Sefton Place Director, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside.

The committee received a report from the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB) that informed the Committee that at the ICB meeting on 28 November 2024, the ICB approved the recommendation that the ICB commences a period of public consultation regarding the proposal to cease NHS funded gluten free prescribing (bread and bread mixes) across Cheshire and Merseyside. The ICB had a duty to engage with Local Authority Health and Overview Scrutiny Committees (HOSC) to seek confirmation as to whether the HOSC believed the proposals constituted a substantial change to NHS services, known as a Substantial Development or Variation of Services (SDV).

The Committee was informed that currently across Cheshire and Merseyside there are differences in the prescribing availability of gluten free products for patients due to previous arrangements of the individual predecessor Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) organisations. Work has been undertaken to rectify this position and recommend a harmonised approach to gluten free prescribing.

Currently in Sefton, 336 people would be affected by the change.

The Committee queried the following points:

·       The likely impact on families on low incomes who have one or more family members requiring gluten free bread or bread mixes.

·       Had any work been carried to identify those impacted and to assess the severity of the impact upon household incomes.

Following further discussion, whilst noting that the proposals affected a relatively small number of people in Sefton, the change would impact those in receipt of prescriptions and the Committee considered that it was a substantial change in service.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee agreed that the proposals represented a substantial development or variation to services to Proposed Changes to NHS Gluten Free Prescribing.