Eating gluten free foods can be expensive. But for those with coeliac disease, being on a strictly gluten free diet is the only way to improve and maintain their health. To aid those with coeliac disease in living gluten free, Pharmac offers part-funding for some gluten free foods.
The part-subsidy, which is available by prescription only, covers the part-funding of gluten free foods such as gluten free flour, gluten free pasta, and gluten free bread mix or baking mix. The aim is to make gluten free foods more affordable. The Pharmac part-subsidy is available to:
(excluding the Hutt Valley DHB area), the prescription isn’t always cost effective. Careful consideration should be taken in deciding whether or not it is worth getting the prescription or not – looking at the cost of the GP’s prescription charge, possible pharmacy charges, and the cost of the products.
Unfortunately, Pharmac no longer makes changes to the subsidy amount on existing foods, which means that as prices increase, using a prescription for these gluten free foods may eventually become less viable.
NORTH ISLAND: Your doctor can provide you with a Special Authority Number and a prescription for up to 3 months supply of a specific range of gluten free products such as gluten free flour/bread mix and pasta. This can be taken to your local pharmacy to fulfill.
SOUTH ISLAND & LOWER HUTT: Complete the ‘Coeliac prescription’ form from Crombie & Price’s website before taking it to your health professional to authorise specialist. You will receive a pro-forma invoice with the part-cost payable and products can be delivered to the patient, freight-free.
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Professor Andrew Day is an academic paediatric aastroenterologist based in Christchurch. After a period of training in Toronto, Canada, he took up a position at Sydney Children's Hospital, in Sydney, Australia. Returning to NZ in 2009, has a busy clinical role in Christchurch, and provides outreach Paediatric Gastroenterology services around the rest of the South […]
Adele is a registered NZ dietitian with over 24 years of advanced training and experience in various specialist areas of nutrition therapy (including gastroenterology, paediatrics, diabetes, bariatric surgery, disordered eating and oncology), mostly in the NHS, UK and the last four years in NZ. She is currently working as a specialist dietitian for Digestive Health […]
Jonathon completed undergraduate and postgraduate paediatric gastroenterology training in the UK before undertaking a six-month Fellow post in Starship Children’s Hospital in 2007. He returned to the UK to work as a consultant post in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow between 2008 and 2011 before the lure of the Southern hemisphere proved too […]