A volunteer for a support group for coeliacs has called for gluten-free food to be routinely on the menu for patients at Noble’s Hospital.

Peter Cannell, organiser of the Coeliac Isle of Man Local Support Group, raised the issued after an unexpected overnight stay at Noble’s following a minor procedure there.

He said because it was an unplanned admission, he hadn’t been able to put in any special dietary requests in advance.

Mr Cannell, 58, said a nurse had asked if he had brought in his own food.

Fortunately he had - which was ‘just as well as there was nothing gluten-free on offer,’ he said.

According to the NHS, coeliac disease is a condition where your immune system attacks your own tissues when you eat gluten, causing damage to the small intestine.

Speaking from his home in Andreas: ‘The procedure unfortunately took longer than it should have done.

‘One of the first things one of the nurses said to me was “you have brought food in, haven’t you, because it will be difficult to get any gluten-free food in for you”.

‘The hospital kitchen doesn’t appear to be geared up for unplanned admissions. Fortunately, my wife had made sure there was food for me which meant I was okay.

‘Staff at Noble’s couldn’t have been more helpful - they had to work around the problem. My main motive for putting this out there is to warn fellow sufferers.’

Mr Cannell has raised the issued with the Manx Care Advice and Liaison Services (MCALS).

In a statement, Manx Care said: ‘We have passed this matter onto MCALs who are looking into this and will feed back to the relevant service area so that further improvements can be made.’

One in 100 people suffer coeliac disease and have to avoid eating wheat, barley and rye products as they contain gluten.

Mr Cannell said there could be more than 800 coeliacs in the Isle of Man: ‘It’s not a small proportion.

‘On top of that you have people with Crohn’s. Gluten-free is not a choice, it’s a medical condition.’