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Pharmacy Allergy Screening Service
Allergy UK, in conjunction with Ask Your Pharmacist, have introduced this service in response to continual demand from the public asking Allergy UK’s advice on where to obtain credible and affordable allergy diagnosis. The accredited pharmacists have gone through extensive training in allergy in order to deliver this service. The service is currently available in England and will be rolled out to cover all areas of the UK.
This is an exciting development for people with allergy and we have listened to those who contact us desperate for help. They want a local, affordable service where they can feel confident in the advice being given. The local pharmacy is often the first place that people turn to for advice with a health problem and it is therefore logical to establish a high quality allergy screening service within the pharmacy.
WHY IS IT CALLED A SCREENING SERVICE AND NOT A TESTING SERVICE?
It is a screening service because in the majority of cases, allergy diagnosis is in the clinical history taking alone and therefore, no test is required under these circumstances.
HOW CAN I GET AN ALLERGY SCREENING?
We are training pharmacists on an on-going basis and are gradually rolling out the programme across the country. Eventually all areas of the UK will be covered. To check the nearest pharmacist to you click here but remember this will be updated weekly where we have new pharmacists becoming accredited.
HOW WILL I KNOW THAT THE PHARMACIST IS ACCREDITTED BY ALLERGY UK?
All pharmacists accredited by Allergy UK will have been through an intensive training programme and will have two certificates on display in their pharmacy to prove that they have completed the accreditation process. There will be one certificate for the pharmacist and one for the pharmacy both with an expiry date.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN DURING THE SCREENING?
The pharmacists will take a full allergy clinical history and will discuss various aspects of your life style. From this he/she will be able to make a diagnosis of what allergens are the likely to be the triggers causing your reaction. You will then be given advice on how to manage your reactions which might involve recommendations on over the counter medication, avoidance advice or a referral to your GP with advice on the nearest appropriate allergy specialist. Allergy UK will then follow the consultation up providing you with a tailored information pack and will contact you two weeks later to see how you are getting on following the advice.
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?
Taking the clinical history and giving the advice will take a maximum of 20-30 minutes.
DO I HAVE TO PAY?
The cost of the screening service is a recommended price of £35.00.
At the present time it is not possible to provide the service on the NHS although we do hope in the future that this might change.
WHAT WILL I GET FOR MY MONEY?
You will receive a consultation with the pharmacist, advice, a full pack of information from Allergy UK individually tailored for you and the allergies affecting you, on-going support for the following year from Allergy UK.
IS A TEST INCLUDED IN THE PRICE?
No. We have not included a test in the price because as explained above, in the majority of cases the allergy diagnosis is in the clinical history alone. This means that if we did include a test in the price, the majority of people would be paying for a test as well and it may not be necessary.
As with any medical test, the healthcare professional needs to read the results in conjunction with the clinical history. However, carefully selected blood tests are available for certain allergens and the pharmacist will advise on whether it would be recommended for such a test to be conducted. This will obviously be at an additional cost and, if necessary, the pharmacist will discuss this with you. The test is not part of the Allergy UK endorsed screening service and is an arrangement between yourself and the Pharmacist.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE SCREENING?
Within two days of your screening you will receive from Allergy UK a full information pack individually tailored to help you manage your allergies. This will be delivered either by email or post.
Two weeks after this you will be contacted by Allergy UK to see if there is any further way that we can help you. If you would like us to we will stay in touch with you during the coming year, we are always here to help people with allergies and intolerances.