Science and Technology Committee - Report on Allergy

The BSACI endorse and wholeheartedly support the recommendations of House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee enquiry into “Allergy” chaired by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff.

We are very concerned that despite 3 previous reports (The Royal College of Physicians report ‘Allergy the Unmet Need’ 2003, The ‘Provision of Allergy Services’ of the House of Commons  Health Committee, November 2004 and the Department of Health’s own Review of Services for Allergy, July 2006) that so little concrete has been actioned or achieved.

BSACI believes that the House of Lord’s Select Committee Report is evidence-based, highlights the burden of allergy within UK and offers practical and affordable solutions to be implemented with urgency by the Department of health and actioned through the Strategic Health Authorities.

Allergy is a modern epidemic:

• 1 in 5 of the UK population suffers from hayfever

-          Reduces quality of life and work performance

-          Impairs results in school examinations.

• 1 in 10 have asthma

-     That’s 3-4 children with a ‘blue’ inhaler per classroom

-          Allergies are a major trigger factor for asthma

-          Asthma may be severe and even life threatening

• 1 in 50 children suffer from peanut allergy

-          That’s one child in every 2^nd classroom

-          May cause life-threatening anaphylaxis

• Asthma accounts for 70,000 admissions and anaphylaxis for 30,000

            admissions to hospital each year within UK

• Medications for allergies cost £0.9 billion/yr, 11% the total NHS drug budget

The House of Lords major recommendations include the following:

NHS services for allergy sufferers are inadequate at all levels and there is a lack of training in allergy in medical school undergraduate training programs, in primary care and in hospital-based secondary care.

• The Department of Health should set up regional allergy centres nationwide through the ten Strategic Health Authorities. These should be headed by full time specialists in allergy. They would act as ‘clusters’ of expertise that include a partnership among allergists, paediatric allergists, clinical immunologists, chest physicians, dermatologists, ENT specialists, gastro-intestinal specialists and occupational health physicians.

• Each Allergy Centre should have facilities for diagnosis of complex cases and provide training in allergy for specialist trainees, organ-based specialists, GPs, nurses, pharmacists and school personnel.

There is a lack of funding for research into the causes of allergies, and for the investigation of novel therapies and clinical trials of new treatments for allergies.

·         The Translational Medicine Funding Board should highlight allergy as a priority area, including development of novel treatments for allergies and investigation of the early life events that predispose to allergies.

·         Novel treatments for allergies should also be a priority for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). The health and cost benefits of allergen immunotherapy (desensitisation treatment) for wasp/bee venom anaphylaxis and for treatment-resistant hayfever should be evaluated by NICE.

Other recommendations include:

• The Food Standards Agency should ensure that food labelling takes into account the needs of allergy sufferers – no vague defensive warnings on foods that may lead to dangerous confusion or unnecessary restriction of choice.

• The Department of Health should withdraw its current advice to avoid peanut during pregnancy and infancy, until the results of ongoing research becomes available.

• The Department for Children, Schools and Family should audit the training of staff in schools in the management of children with allergies and support remedial action where indicated

• Allergy self-testing kits should be interpreted with advice from  trained healthcare personnel and IgG food antibody tests should not be  used to diagnose food intolerance in the absence of stringent scientific evidence.