| AAA
comment on the House of Lords Allergy
Report
Some
of the key recommendations of the
Allergy Report
Extracts
from reply dated 4 Aug 2006
Letter
from AAA to Lord Warner 8 Aug 2006
Reply
from DoH 24 Aug 2006
|
Action
against allergy needed NOW
There
are some 20 million people in the
UK with some form of allergic illness,
with very inadequate services available
for diagnosis and treatment. Now
the need for action has been recognised
yet again in the newly published
Allergy Report from the House of
Lords Science and Technology Committee
(26 September 2007).
There is nothing
new in this report. The essential
requirements of specialised allergy
centres, suitable medical training
options and the provision of guidelines
for GPs have all been recommended
vigorously in recent years. (1)
It does, however, present a clearer
vision of how a regional allergy
centre might be structured and its
place within the community. The
report's attention to developing
effective treatments such as immunotherapy
underlines an area important for
the future quality of life of many
allergy sufferers.
Action Against
Allergy welcomes this further recognition
of the need, which is becoming ever
more urgent as the number of people
with allergic illness escalates.
But is this going to be yet another
report which rests on the shelf
without any real action being taken?
Practical steps
by Government are long overdue;
and the most important of these
is to allocate funding which specifically
allows these necessary measures
to get under way. Those allergy
centres will not get built unless
the funding is made available.
Government should
also take the lead in making allergy
services a priority for attention
in all Primary Care Groups. Only
then will there be any real progress
in serving the needs of those millions
– 1 in 3 of the population – many
of whom are at present getting little
or no suitable help.
(1)
By the Royal College of Physicians
in their report Allergy: the
unmet need (2003), the Parliamentary
Select Committee on Health Inquiry
into the provision of allergy services
(2004) and the Department of
Health Review of services for
allergy (2006).
26.09.07
____________________________________________________________
-
The House of Lords Allergy Report
recommends that at least one allergy
centre be established in each
Strategic Health Authority.
An allergy specialist would head
up a team which includes specialists
in other disciplines: chest
physician, dermatologist, ENT,
clinical immunologist, gastroenterologist,
occupational health practitioner
and paediatrician, supported by
specialist nurses and dieticians
trained in allergy.
-
A pilot centre should be
established, with a comprehensive
patient database, which would
enable a thorough cost analysis
and inform the development of
further allergy centres.
-
Diagnosis would be carried
out in these centres and treatment
programmes planned, which may
be managed in primary or secondary
care.
-
Allergy immunotherapy by
injection would be carried out
at the centre.
-
Collaboration between clinicians
in primary, secondary and tertiary
care, once established, should
lead to the training of GPs and
other healthcare workers in allergy.
-
The allergy centre would
also provide public information
and advice and work in collaboration
with allergy charities, schools
and local business.
-
The Royal Colleges should
work together to ensure undergraduate
medical students recognise the
role of allergy in disease processes
and how to refer patients appropriately.
GPs should develop their allergy
knowledge through the provision
of clinical postgraduate courses.
-
Immunotherapy is recognised
as a valuable resource for those
with life-threatening or persistent
allergic disease and the potential
for its wider use should be assessed
with full cost-benefit analysis.
-
The report notes that many
teachers and support staff within
schools are not appropriately
educated in how to deal with allergic
emergencies; it recommends
an audit of the level of allergy
training received and that urgent
remedial action should be take
where required.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
