Allergy Care Must Be Improved

Increased awareness and improved training for healthcare professionals and education staff recommended.

The numbers of children and young people affected by allergies has increased dramatically over the last 40 years.  One in three youngsters are affected by allergies in Scotland,  at an estimated cost of over £130 million a year to the NHS in Scotland. The continuing epidemic rise in numbers of children and young people suffering from allergies, including anaphylaxis and food allergy, many of which persist into adulthood, will have long term implications for NHS service delivery.

The Children and Young People's Allergy Network Scotland (CYANS) was set up by the Scottish Government  to conduct a two-year study into what improvements are needed in  paediatric allergy care and its findings will be officially launched in Edinburgh today. 

Amongst the report's findings were that:

* Allergy care is important for most primary care clinicians but very few have allergy expertise, while the majority request additional allergy education and training. 
* Secondary care allergy service provision varies greatly between diverse health boards in Scotland. 
* There is insufficient capacity in adult allergy services to provide adequate care for the majority of young people who need to transition from paediatric allergy services. 

Professor Jurgen Schwarze, clinical lead for CYANS and leading allergy consultant at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, said: 

"Allergies can have a major impact on daily living, emotional and social wellbeing for children, young people and their families.

"We have found families and young people with allergies do not feel sufficiently supported by clinical services or in schools.? They wish for increased allergy awareness amongst the general public and require access to reliable allergy information.

"We will continue to work with the Scottish Government to improve the standard of knowledge of allergy and provide education and training for all clinicians working with children and young people with allergies with an initial focus on primary care.

"We will also continue to work with NHS Health Boards so that a dedicated allergy service or identified adequately allergy trained clinician is provided in all health boards  to take allergy referrals in secondary care and to deliver allergy care as close to home as possible."

Asthma UK Scotland is part of CYANS and its national director Gordon Brown said: 

"Scotland has one of the highest rates of childhood asthma in the world and we know that for many their asthma is triggered by an allergy.  

"We also know that many young people with allergies suffer because their condition is misunderstood by those around them and this initiative will be another step forward in improving their care so they can lead healthy and active lifestyles."