Post by kickingfrog on Aug 2, 2011 8:41:23 GMT
I sent an email to Darren Millar thus;
....You still have the untrue story on your website about prescription gluten free bread for coeliacs.
Please remove this and publish an apology.....
Email reply from Darren Millar
******************
Millar, Darren (Assembly Member, Clwyd West)
Darren.Millar@Wales.gov.uk
.....The data released to the media was published by the Welsh Government in response to a written question I tabled some weeks ago, the details of which are available publicly on the National Assembly for Wales website at www.assemblywales.org/bus-home/bus-business-fourth-assembly-written-questions.htm?act=dis&id=219202&ds=7/2011
My intention in raising this issue is to highlight the inefficient way in which the NHS makes such items available to Welsh patients and to seek action from the Welsh Government to address these failings. At no time did I claim that the cost of a loaf is £32.
I recognise the need for special dietary products to be available to patients with coeliac disease and other conditions and would continue to subscribe to the view that the NHS should support the provision of such products. I do not however, feel that the current arrangements represent best value for taxpayers.
I trust that you find this response helpful and please be assured of the continued support of my party for coeliac patients.
Kind regards,
Darren
Darren Millar
Assembly Member for Clwyd West
Aelod Cynulliad dros Orllewin Clwyd
**************************************************
From Darren Millar's website
***********
Monday, 18 July, 2011
...The average cost of each gluten-free loaf of bread – prescribed on the Welsh NHS during 2010 – was over £20....
www.darrenmillaram.com/news/each-gluten-free-loaf-costs-nhs-%C2%A320
****************************
Tabloid Watch
....Tuesday, 2 August 2011
The '£32' loaf of bread
On 19 and 20 July, several newspapers thought they had a scoop on how much the NHS was spending on gluten-free food. In particular, they claimed that loaves of gluten-free bread which are available at the supermarket for £2.25 are being bought by the NHS for over £32.
'Prescriptions scandal: £32.37 a loaf' said a page 9 story in the Sun, which was accompanied by an editorial comment.
The Mirror went with 'Gluten free loaves costing NHS £32.27 a time', the Mail carried the headline 'Use your loaf! NHS officials pay £32 for gluten-free bread that costs £2.25 in the shops', while the Telegraph and WalesOnline ran the same claims under similar headlines.
The source for all this seems to have been a statement by Welsh Assembly member Darren Millar and it seems little fact-checking was done by journalists who repeated his claims.
...the Welsh Health Minister, in responding to the media coverage:
Reports in the press this morning suggesting that a loaf of gluten free bread costs the NHS £32 are incorrect.
The £32 figure appears to have been arrived at following a misinterpretation of NHS prescribing statistics - which show the total number of prescriptions dispensed, rather than the total number of loaves prescribed.
This data is available on the Welsh Government website.
Welsh Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said:
"This claim is inaccurate. The actual cost for the single loaf of gluten-free bread in question is around £2.82, not the £ 32 claimed.
The £32 cost quoted is for an average prescription on which several loaves are ordered at a time...
... Each loaf is 400 grams. Therefore, 309 loaves were prescribed for £ 871.36 ie £2.82 per 400 gram loaf.
....
tabloid-watch.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/32-loaf-of-bread.html
****************************
....You still have the untrue story on your website about prescription gluten free bread for coeliacs.
Please remove this and publish an apology.....
Email reply from Darren Millar
******************
Millar, Darren (Assembly Member, Clwyd West)
Darren.Millar@Wales.gov.uk
.....The data released to the media was published by the Welsh Government in response to a written question I tabled some weeks ago, the details of which are available publicly on the National Assembly for Wales website at www.assemblywales.org/bus-home/bus-business-fourth-assembly-written-questions.htm?act=dis&id=219202&ds=7/2011
My intention in raising this issue is to highlight the inefficient way in which the NHS makes such items available to Welsh patients and to seek action from the Welsh Government to address these failings. At no time did I claim that the cost of a loaf is £32.
I recognise the need for special dietary products to be available to patients with coeliac disease and other conditions and would continue to subscribe to the view that the NHS should support the provision of such products. I do not however, feel that the current arrangements represent best value for taxpayers.
I trust that you find this response helpful and please be assured of the continued support of my party for coeliac patients.
Kind regards,
Darren
Darren Millar
Assembly Member for Clwyd West
Aelod Cynulliad dros Orllewin Clwyd
**************************************************
From Darren Millar's website
***********
Monday, 18 July, 2011
...The average cost of each gluten-free loaf of bread – prescribed on the Welsh NHS during 2010 – was over £20....
www.darrenmillaram.com/news/each-gluten-free-loaf-costs-nhs-%C2%A320
****************************
Tabloid Watch
....Tuesday, 2 August 2011
The '£32' loaf of bread
On 19 and 20 July, several newspapers thought they had a scoop on how much the NHS was spending on gluten-free food. In particular, they claimed that loaves of gluten-free bread which are available at the supermarket for £2.25 are being bought by the NHS for over £32.
'Prescriptions scandal: £32.37 a loaf' said a page 9 story in the Sun, which was accompanied by an editorial comment.
The Mirror went with 'Gluten free loaves costing NHS £32.27 a time', the Mail carried the headline 'Use your loaf! NHS officials pay £32 for gluten-free bread that costs £2.25 in the shops', while the Telegraph and WalesOnline ran the same claims under similar headlines.
The source for all this seems to have been a statement by Welsh Assembly member Darren Millar and it seems little fact-checking was done by journalists who repeated his claims.
...the Welsh Health Minister, in responding to the media coverage:
Reports in the press this morning suggesting that a loaf of gluten free bread costs the NHS £32 are incorrect.
The £32 figure appears to have been arrived at following a misinterpretation of NHS prescribing statistics - which show the total number of prescriptions dispensed, rather than the total number of loaves prescribed.
This data is available on the Welsh Government website.
Welsh Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said:
"This claim is inaccurate. The actual cost for the single loaf of gluten-free bread in question is around £2.82, not the £ 32 claimed.
The £32 cost quoted is for an average prescription on which several loaves are ordered at a time...
... Each loaf is 400 grams. Therefore, 309 loaves were prescribed for £ 871.36 ie £2.82 per 400 gram loaf.
....
tabloid-watch.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/32-loaf-of-bread.html
****************************