Debate contribution: Coeliac Disease: Diagnostic Pathways

Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on 2 June 2026.

MLA: Mr Mike Nesbitt
Party at the time: Ulster Unionist Party
Date: 2 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution (made as a minister)
Business: Oral Answers to Questions
Heading: Coeliac Disease: Diagnostic Pathways
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5584299

Text

Formal guidance issued by the British Society of Gastroenterology in 2014 specified that a robust diagnosis of coeliac disease should involve an endoscopy procedure and an accompanying biopsy. That was followed by interim guidance in 2020 on a no-biopsy protocol that was intended to support timely diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic when our endoscopy capacity was significantly reduced. The pathway allowed diagnosis based on blood tests alone under specific conditions. To date, the guidance issued in 2014 remains the formal guidance. It limits the scope to adopt no-biopsy pathways at scale. Broad adoption would require updated formal guidance from the British Society of Gastroenterology, followed by the issue of clear referral guidelines, based on that guidance, to primary care.

119 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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