Meeting the challenges of the National Allergy Crisis: A report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Allergy and the National Allergy Strategy Group (27 October 2021)

Summary

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Allergy, in conjunction with the National Allergy Strategy Group (NASG), has launched a new report which calls for the appointment of an influential lead for allergy who can implement a new national strategy to help the millions of people across the UK affected by allergic disease.

This report brings to Ministers’ attention the growing allergy epidemic and the lack of NHS services for people with allergic disease. 20 million people in the UK, a third of the population, are living with allergic disease with five million of these severe enough to require specialist care yet our allergy services remain inadequate, often hard to access and are failing those who need them the most.

Change is required and is now long overdue. For the growing number of people living with allergic disease in the UK, their condition can have a significant and negative impact on their lives. It is frightening and restrictive to live with a condition which could cause a severe or life threatening reaction at any time.

Content

Key recommendations:

• Create more training posts in allergy. Train many more doctors to be allergy specialists.
• Increase the number of consultant allergists.
• Increase allergy knowledge in primary care through training and education.
• Bring allergy care into the 21st century, raise standards and the consistency of care across the UK.

Further reading:

Why allergies are the Cinderella service of the NHS – a blog by Tim McLachlan