A DROP-IN session takes place in Keighley on Thursday (Jan 26) as part of public consultation over the future of gluten-free food on prescription.

People are invited to call at Central Hall, Alice Street, between 10.15am and 11.45am.

Gluten-free foods such as bread, flour, cereal and pasta have been prescribed for people with coeliac disease for more than three decades.

NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) spends over £100,000 a year on such prescriptions, for about 580 patients.

Dr Gordon Wallace, medicines management executive lead at the CCG, said: "We are looking to review everything we spend our money on and this is one of the areas we are considering.

"Gluten-free prescribing started when there was little or no alternative in the supermarket.

"Nowadays, every big shop has a gluten-free aisle at considerably lower prices and due to changing diets and lifestyle choices, there is a much wider variety of foods available in the shops, supermarkets and online."

People can also give their views by completing an online questionnaire at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/65HXF2X, e-mailing engage@awcccg.nhs.uk or writing to NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group, Millennium Business Park, Station Road, Steeton, Keighley BD20 6RB.

The consultation runs until March 31.