NHS is 'fuelling Britain's obesity crisis' by funding prescriptions for PIZZAS and BURGERS

The NHS has been criticised for prescribing pizzas and burgers

THE NHS is fuelling Britain's obesity crisis by handing out prescriptions for fattening foods including BURGERS and PIZZAS, it emerged today.

 

Doctors said they are mortified after it emerged that overweight people can claim free Cornish pasties, cakes and sausage rolls on the health service. Taxpayers are now forking out more than £116m on the fatty food handouts, which a top medic said are "leading to an obesity epidemic".

One pharmacist said she was stunned when a patient came in with a prescription for Cornish pasties and raged: "They're hardly items on which life depends." 

People can claim a huge variety of unhealthy foods free on the NHS under outdated rules designed to help those with rare dietary requirements. 

The prescriptions were introduced in the 1960s when specialist foods - particularly those which are gluten-free - were incredibly difficult to come across. 

All major supermarkets now stock extensive gluten free-ranges, but the loophole has never been closed meaning that thousands can pick up their shopping free on the NHS. 

 

Doctors have said that the handouts are fuelling an obesity crisis

 

The NHS has spent £116 million on food including burgers

 

The NHS is buckling under the £8 billion a year obesity epidemic

Amazingly, many are being issued with prescriptions for fatty foods like pizzas and burgers even though there health problems were caused by obesity. There are also fears that some people are abusing the lavish system to feed their families and even set up businesses at the taxpayers' expense. 

As a result, the NHS splashed at least £116 million on food prescriptions last year alone - twice as much as a decade ago. 

In reality the total spend will be much higher, because that figure does not include manufacturers' sky-high handling fees of up to £40 per item.

Today one leading medic called for prescriptions for gluten-free foods to be banned. 

GP Gayyaz Chaudhri raged: "It should be stopped. It’s irresponsible and it’s leading to an obesity epidemic.

"There’s plenty of gluten-free products people can buy in shops and many foods such as fruit are naturally gluten-free anyway."

 

It’s irresponsible and it’s leading to an obesity epidemic

GP Gayyaz Chaudhri

Dr Chaudhri told the Daily Mail that he reformed the prescription process at his surgery after being horrified to discover that it had paid out £25.50 on one gluten-free baguette – £3.50 for the loaf and £22 for handling.

The respected medic, who is himself a coeliac sufferer, added: "What was outrageous was that pharmacists wouldn’t question it. As long as they were getting reimbursed they wouldn’t care.

"Patients will be sending GPs a shopping list and then they’ll be handing out what they’ve asked for. GPs are under a lot of pressure, they don’t want to get into a confrontation."

An astonishing 211,200 prescriptions were written out for gluten-free or low protein food in 2014, according to the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

More than 100,000 prescriptions were doled out for 19 different types of gluten-free pizza base, while 2,039 were issued for burger mixes. 

On top of that 6,900 were authorised for cakes and cake mixes, despite the fact that sugar consumption is fuelling an obesity crisis which now costs the NHS £8 billion a year. 

 

As a result of the revelations, there are now calls to limit prescriptions to vouchers for the purchase of staples such as bread and flour.

One pharmacist said: "It’s quite extraordinary what is going on with the prescriptions. Bread is not a medicine, it’s a food, if people want it they can buy it. Then you hear that patients are being denied cancer drugs."

Another said that the system is wide open to abuse, with one patient even being caught bulk-ordering gluten-free flour on prescription and using it for an online cake business.

Although only coeliacs should be eligible for the handouts, medics believe that some people are abusing the system to feed their whole families even if they have not been properly diagnosed with the condition. 

Health minister Lord Prior said: "At a time when NHS budgets are tight and the latest treatments are expensive, we need to get our priorities right.

"The NHS offers world-leading care, but it wasn’t founded to prescribe chocolate biscuits and cakes – gluten free or otherwise – especially given the damage we know obesity can cause. 

"The NHS must make the best use of every available pound of taxpayers’ money – this just looks wasteful."

Around a quarter of adults and a fifth of children are classified as obese - a figure which is putting an unbearable strain on the health service. 

Britain's obesity crisis has been linked to a sharp rise in killer diseases including cardiac problems and Type 2 diabetes.