To ask the Minister of Health whether his Department has given any consideration to introducing a dedicated coeliac disease endoscopy pathway.

Patients will generally present in the first instance to their GP practice, where primary care professionals will assess symptoms and consider coeliac disease as part of differential diagnosis.

Established primary care pathways are in place, including initial blood testing and, where appropriate, referral to secondary care for outpatient assessment and endoscopic investigations to support diagnosis. All patients with a suspected coeliac diagnosis will have access to endoscopy investigations.

The recent investment committed from my Department through the Elective Care Framework and the NI Cancer Strategy is supporting the expansion of endoscopy services to support and improve access for all patients. This is already having a positive impact with greatly improved endoscopy waiting times.