Allergy Services: Still not meeting the unmet need
A new report by the Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Pathologists, supported by The Latex Allergy Support Group.A series of reports starting in 2003 with the Royal College of Physicians “Allergy: the unmet need” and continuing with the House of Commons Health Committee in 2004, Department of Health in 2006 and the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee in 2007 has recommended significant improvement for the provision of NHS allergy services including an increase in the number of specialist allergists, more allergy centres and an improvement to allergy provision in primary care.
This new report has been produced to look at the changes since the House of Lords report in 2007 and shows there has been limited progress in some areas yet in the majority of cases, such as increase in specialist services progress has been slow or non-existent.
Without more specialist services and an increase in the number of allergists patients will continue to receive less than adequate care which impacts on successful management of the condition and quality of life for the whole family. Patients are still reporting difficulties in accessing care and receiving adequate advice with many relying on patient groups such as The Latex Allergy Support Group. Many patients never see a specialist allergist and this puts them at greater risk of repeat allergic reactions with others having to travel unacceptable distances to visit an allergy clinic.
Aleks Kinay, Chair of the Latex Allergy Support Group says, “ Patient support groups continue to provide a great deal of support to the patients and parents of children with latex allergy which is of high value in assisting them to access the services that they require whilst healthcare funds are due to diminish and allergies are on the increase. Latex Allergy causes great stress and the use of low quality high allergen products such as balloons, widely used in public places are restricting the daily lives of our members and putting them at risk of an allergic reaction or indeed anaphylaxis”
Telephone: 07734 176426 Helpline: 07071 225838 - Available between 7.00pm and 10.00pm, Monday to Friday only
Website: www.lasg.org.uk
The current lack of services is resulting in unnecessary cost to the NHS in undiagnosed and inadequately managed conditions. Many patients are suffering repeated anaphylaxis causing emergency admissions and hospital stays. Many more face numerous visits to their general practitioner with little chance of a specialist referral. There is a lack of investment in allergy services and allergy-trained staff yet increasing these will ultimately save money and increase quality of life for the millions affected.
The document can be downloaded from the Royal College of Physicians website here: http://bookshop.rcplondon.ac.uk/details.aspx?e=317
For more information contact: Lesley Fudge 07734 176426 and lesley@lasg.org.
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