Introduce Allergy Nurses At Primary Care

Pledge your support to back our campaign to introduce an allergy nurse and dietitian as part of the services offered within GP practices.

Following the launch of our Patient Charter for people living with allergic disease in 2022, Allergy UK announced its first related policy call in 2023: to introduce specialist allergy nurses and dietitian within primary care services.

The proposal follows a research project funded by Allergy UK and conducted in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian between 2017 and 2021. The project tested the feasibility of a novel approach to allergy service provision within primary care settings, by introducing nurse-led allergy clinics for patients with suspected or confirmed allergies.

Key findings:

  • The wait to access accurate and effective health care to manage allergies was just 4-8 weeks compared to 6-18 months, the typical wait time to see an NHS allergist following a GP referral.
  • 91% of patients were happy or very happy with the health care they received.
  • 92% of patients were able to adhere to the personal management/treatment plan advised by the allergy nurse.
  • 87% of GPs said integrating a paediatric specialist allergy dietitian into primary care improved the treatment pathway for food allergy patients.
  • 87% of GPs advocated for this integrated care model.
  • Referrals to specialists were reduced by 95%.

This model offered more timely, accurate and accessible care for patients whilst alleviating the burden on GPs and waiting lists and it is why we make this call.

By transforming how healthcare services in the UK manage allergic conditions, we can significantly improve the quality of life for millions of people affected by allergies.

Support our campaign

We need your help. We’re calling for patients, friends and family of patients, clinicians, and policy makers to lend their voices and support for this policy call, and help us campaign for change.  The more voices who support our call, the louder our call, and the harder it will be to ignore. Please consider adding your name to our pledge wall and petition and/or write to your local MP to ask them to support this call.

  • Sign our pledge wall
  • Tell your local politician to help raise awareness within government and advocate for change
  • Raise awareness by sharing your experiences or showing your support on social platforms

Sign our Pledge

Now at 2,327 | Our goal: 10,000 signatures

People living with allergy have the right to a ‘Gold Standard’ of care. Pledge your support to back our campaign to introduce an allergy nurse and dietitian as part of the services offered within GP practices.

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I am pledging my support to the Allergy UK Patient Charter because…

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Your Pledge Wall

I’m a registered Children’s nurse and now a university programme lead. Allergy should be embedded into all HCPs training. The most common chronic conditions in childhood but still a real lack of allergy awareness amongst most HCPs

Faye Mathias

As an allergy specialist nurse for many years, I witnessed the often serious health impact and reduced quality of life of people with allergic conditions. This will never improve until it is better understood and managed in primary care.

Maureen Jenkins

Our daughter has allergies and I’m getting no where with advice and help from my GP. It’s like a light has been switched on as she suddenly acquired itchy eyes and tummy aches, since April 2023. It’s heartbreaking to see her suffer, we are still without advice and paediatrician referral.

Asha Joshi

My son has allergies - we live in Northern Ireland and we do not have access to challenges without significant waiting times, or immunotherapy.

Janine Dolan

2 years ago I lost my beloved eldest sister to an allergic reaction.This was late onset at the age of 64. Although she received one Consultation, they did not identify the allergy. She was prescribed Certazine. She suddenly died at 68. As a family, we remain shocked,and devastated.

Beryl Ward

My son has severe allergies and current hospital based consultant led clinic appointments are infrequent and rushed. Being able to access support as required via the GP service would be helpful.

Natalie Dickinson

My daughter suffered for 5 months because of a delayed diagnosis of CMPA. GP’s failed to diagnose it and claimed it was colic. We ended up in A&E twice and my daughter was classed as failure to thrive due to refusing feeds.

Rosey Hepburn Imber

My daughter was born in lockdown and little support was provided for her allergy, don’t believe anyone should have the same experience as we did. We believe having assessable allergy support locally to hand is vital

Richard Harding

After my daughter's death I vowed to make change. By supporting allergy UK I'm also helping my other children who have allergies.

Clare Bristow

2,327 supporters already, pledge your support now!

Read our Patient Charter

Allergy UK developed this charter in collaboration with patients and clinical experts which reflects the challenges that patients face in every single aspect of their lives – from accessing high quality care, wherever they live in the UK, to feeling equal in a society that dismissed their condition and disregards their needs.

Read our Patient Charter

Raise Awareness

Share your story or use our social media templates to shout about our campaign and the impact of allergy.

Help raise awareness today

Our Champions

Every campaign needs its champions and we are delighted to welcome our champions pledging their support for our Patient Charter.

Meet our Champions

Tell Your Local Politician

Help them understand the importance of our campaign by sharing with them your story and our Patient Charter call.

Find out how

Read Sarah's Story

Sarah and Max’s experience highlights the very real need for improved access to allergy services. She has agreed to share her story in the hope it will encourage others to understand why Allergy UK is making this call and motivate people to also pledge the support. we are thrilled that Sarah agreed to be the first signatory on our pledge wall.

Read Sarah’s story here

Press Pack

If you’re a member of the press, click here to request a copy of our Allergy Awareness Week press pack.

Request Press Pack

The Vision for the Patient Charter is to outline the ‘gold standard’ of patient rights, as defined by the allergic community and leading clinicians in the field of allergy, namely:

    • The Right to a Quality Standard of Care – for everyone with allergy throughout the UK
    • The Right to Education – to empower of patients with allergic conditions to understand and manage their condition with support from informed healthcare professionals
    • The Right to Equality – through the promotion of a better awareness and understanding of allergy so that people with allergic conditions are not discriminated against in any aspect of their daily lives.

For this phase of the Patient Charer, we are focusing on raising awareness of our calls for allergic patients to have the Right to a Quality Standard of Care. We have evidence to show that  introducing a specialist allergy nurse and dietitian as part of GP services improves the healthcare outcomes for those living with an allergic condition.

Our call is for each Integrated Care Board (ICB) to have a fully funded specialist allergy service with a specialist allergy nurse and one specialist dietitian.

You told us, we listened...

In 2021, Allergy UK carried out a major research study to find out how people perceive allergy.

  • 61%

    of people would like government to do more to help people with allergies.

  • 65%

    of parents wanted specialist allergy nurses in GP surgeries.

  • 72%

    of parents feel that sometimes their children’s allergies are not taken seriously.