Need To Get An NHS Diagnosis of Non-Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity? Well, Now You Can…

You will no doubt recall our excitement at seeing consultant physician Dr Kamran Rostami writing about Non-Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity in the BMJ recently, urging his colleagues to recognise this important and vastly under-diagnosed gluten illness.

Well, since then, I have been intermittently email chatting with Dr Rostami and he has been truly helpful, even offering to set up a regular clinic here so he can see you. I’ve not got that one organised – I simply don’t have the ability or facilities to get that done yet (but I will!). Instead, he says he is more than happy to see NHS referral patients at his new position at Luton now Redditch hospital.

Getting an Official NCGS Diagnosis

Dr Rostami suggests that you should try and get an NCGS diagnosis from your local health professionals first. After I had picked myself laughing, and congratulated him on his optimism, he advised that, if needed, people could ask for a referral to see him at the Dept of Gastroenterology in Luton Redditch at his NHS clinic:

 The only reason someone might be referred to me would be if they have difficulty to get the NCGS diagnosis by their local health authority for any reason. In those cases I would be happy to assess and my main objective is to help these cases in a way convenient to them.

If anyone would like to come to [see me] they may be referred via my secretary. 

Dr R has given me his secretary’s email address so I can pass it on to you when needed. How lovely is that? You could, of course, just call Luton Redditch Hospital too and ask to go through to his department.

So, if you need help to get recognition of your gluten illness – whether coeliac or not – it might be a good idea to chat to your GP about it showing them the BMJ article as I suggested last time. If you encounter difficulty, you can then ask to be referred to see

Dr Kamran Rostami MD PhD

Consultant Physician

Department of Gastroenterology

Alexandra Hospital, Redditch, Midlands

He will be on the NHS consultant register. If you need it, I can also give you the email address I have.

Nuff said. I will be making an appointment myself. Not because I don’t know I already have NCGS, but because I want it on my NHS records so my GP knows it too… I hope your GP is more amenable to it (has even heard of it!), but, if not, now you have another option.

Thank you to Dr Rostami and I am taking a nice bow myself for sorting it 😉

Tip: One thing to bear in mind is that I would imagine Dr R’s treatment strategy is one of gliadin avoidance rather than grain avoidance.  I don’t know as I haven’t seen him myself. If so, perhaps we can work on him on that one ourselves for those of us who react to grains and not just gliadins! Update: it is but he is referring non-healers back to TGF!