The Patient Charter

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

Allergy UK launched a Patient Charter in 2022 to articulate the challenges patients face in every single aspect of their lives. These range from accessing high quality care, to feeling equal in a society that dismisses their condition and disregards their needs.

It represents the voices of the allergic community; people whose lives have been impacted by a disease with no cure and who live with the anxiety, stress and mental health burden that comes with allergies; parents fearful for the safety of their children; the children and young people who experience isolation and bullying, as well as the potential effect poorly controlled allergy can have on their educational grades and subsequent job opportunities; and the people with allergy and asthma who are the first to suffer because of poor air quality.

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 Patient Charter call and help us campaign for change:

    • Pledge your support
    • Tell your local politician to help raise awareness within government and achieve change
    • Raise awareness by sharing your experiences or showing your support.

Sign our Pledge

Now at 1,700 | 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.

­

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

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
I want to receive more information

Your Pledge Wall

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

Both my husband and grandson suffer with life threatening allergies (Anaphylaxis) and anything to improve support for them would be welcomed. My husband has been signed off from the Southampton allergy clinic which is both ridiculous and scary.

Kay Jefferson

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

Allergy is a serious problem affecting so many people with life threatening consequences. My wonderful 17 yr old has anaphylaxis & severe eczema which has such an impact on him & everyone around him. More support, access to care & education is desperately needed.

Felicity Quick

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

I’m pledging my support because those with the power to make change need to face the reality that allergies are on the rise and need more support. Let’s not wait on a tragedy to happen before actually making the change that’s needed.

Stephanie Hulme

My little boy is allergic to egg and has a delayed allergy to milk. Having specialists at our GP would help so much. I would feel like we had support and advice on our doorstep. This is something that could’ve helped us massively when he was born.

Charlotte Linscott

Support our Parliament petition

If you’ve pledged your support for our call for more allergy nurses and dietitians at GP level, you can make our calls even louder by adding your name to our official Parliament petition which is now live. When it reaches 10,000 signatures, it is considered for debate in Parliament.

Sign our petition

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

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

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

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

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.