It’s Allergy Awareness Week this week. This year’s focus is on the effect of air quality on allergies.
Many of our colleagues specialise in allergy research here in Southampton. Our MSc Allergy programme attracts a fascinating range of individuals – its multidisciplinary nature makes it suitable for GPs, hospital-based doctors, nurses, dietitians and scientists who are involved with adult and paediatric patients.
Putting more care in primary care
The UK government is implementing a new model of NHS care under their NHS Long Term Plan. This will involve decentralising the delivery of healthcare with general practitioners delivering more care to patients closer to where they live.
The UK has the highest incidence of allergy in Europe and patients currently wait a long time to be seen at a few specialist clinics. The cost of allergy care is estimated to be within the region of 1 billion pounds much of which is thought to be avoidable.
For her dissertation project, MSc Allergy student Isobel El-Shanawany looked into the impact on hospital admissions of having GPs with a special interest in allergy caring for patients in a community setting.
This study shows the value of an integrated model of allergy care and resonates with the current NHS policy plans, the vision of the NHS ten-year plan, new GP contract, and formation of primary care networks.
Isobel’s work is supported by editorials published this week in Clinical Experimental Allergy, written by Dr Nic Jay and Dr Liz Angier, another Southampton MSc Allergy alumna.
Angier and Jay said:
“Patients should be seen at the right time, in the right place by the individual with the right expertise.”
Read the papers here: New models of care for allergy and The impact of a General Practitioner‐led community paediatric allergy clinic: A service evaluation.
For further details, contact Professor Graham Roberts: [email protected] tel: 02381 20 61 60
