Poor progress in allergy services

25 June 2010

IMPROVEMENT in the poor state of allergy services in the UK has been slow or non-existent according to a new report from a working party of the Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Pathologists, supported by the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Evidence from a wide variety of sources including professional and patients groups was gathered to measure progress against a 2007 House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report. The new report concluded that cost-effective solutions were still not being implemented, despite the best efforts of the limited number of allergy experts.

Among the report findings is a persisting lack of allergy specialists to meet clinical need and train other healthcare professionals, and ineffective use of the existing cadre of expertise. It also cites impaired leadership of allergy services due to lack of a networked and managed infrastructure. There have also been no improvements on the serious hazards of inappropriate food labelling, and patient engagement remains underused.

These findings are echoed in a repeat survey of GPs reporting no perceived improvement in access to specialist service provision. The RCP comments: "The continued lack of patient involvement, combined with inadequate investment, leadership, organisation, networking, and the failure to appoint a critical mass of staff, both specialist and non-specialist, has led to a situation hardly better than that prior to the 2007 report."

The working party makes a series of specific recommendations:

• Leadership at every level of commissioning and providing services to make the most cost-effective use of a scarce resource.
• Better engagement of patients and patient organisations in enhancing care and designing services.
• A single lead SHA/commissioner to act as a national resource for networking, service evaluation, and to drive improvements in care.
• Development of validated outcome measures and service accreditation standards.
• Professional leadership from physicians, professional organisations and medical royal colleges.

Baroness Ilora Finlay, chair of the working party and chair of the 2007 HoL report, said: "Allergy causes great distress, particularly to children and their families, and can blight people’s lives. Bringing the key players together and recognising the need for expertise in managing complex allergy can dramatically improve quality of life and help patients control their disease."