The National Allergy Strategy – the future of allergy care

Allergy UK hosted a groundbreaking parliamentary reception to launch the UK’s first National Allergy Strategy.

Held in April and attended by a coalition of charities, clinicians and patients, plus two Ministers (Olivia Bailey MP and Sharon Hodgson MP), the audience heard speeches by our chief executive Simone Miles, Professor Adam Fox OBE, chair of the National Allergy Strategy Group, and Jodie Gosling MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Allergy.

Jodie Gosling spoke on the need for change, saying: “British researchers have generated the evidence that has shaped policy and clinical practice around the world. Other nations have used our science to transform their systems and yet, here at home, progress has been slower and the gap between what we know and what we deliver is far too wide.”

She said the National Allergy Strategy was a means to bring coherence and ambition into a fragmented field and called on all listening to support the strategy.

Simone Miles addressed the aims of the strategy, saying: “From improving how allergy is recognised, recorded and managed within the NHS, to creating safer environments in schools and across the food sector, to ensuring people have access to clear, reliable information to manage their condition… (the Strategy) is about improving people’s lives.

“It is about ensuring that people with allergies can feel safe, supported and included every day. It is about reducing avoidable harm. And it is about giving people the confidence to live well with their allergy, rather than constantly managing risk.

“For the first time, we not only have a shared understanding of the problem, but a shared plan for how to address it.”

Speaking on the monumental scope of the National Allergy Strategy, Prof Fox said: “The priority now is implementation. Not more reports, not more consultations – but turning this Strategy into tangible improvements in care, in safety, and in quality of life for the millions of people in this country living with allergic disease. The plan is here. The evidence is here. The sector is united. What we need now is the political will to act – and I believe we have it.”

Our keynote speaker was a young member of the allergic community, Ella Stoneham who shared her personal and moving story of living with allergies and the real cost of decades of policy neglect for allergic disease.

She said: “I urge you to take action so that people with allergies feel safer, better supported and more able to live our lives in confidence. We are not just statistics – we are real people, our families are real people and you have the opportunity to develop a world in which we are better protected and understood, two simple aims that offer a transformative outlook for those of us who spend our daily lives navigating this condition.”

Concluding the evening’s speeches, Sharon Hodgson MP, the Minister for Public Health and Prevention in the Department of Health and Social Care, spoke about the government’s plans. “Today is the culmination of three years of… your hard work and I am so glad to see how well it maps onto our 10-year health plan, especially with its focus on prevention. Anyone who talks about prevention is pushing at an open door with this government and especially with me.”

Our reception marked a historic moment for millions of people living with allergic disease across the country. With more than 200 attendees, including parliamentarians, clinicians, charity representatives, corporate partners and members of the allergic community, the room was alive with conversation about the next steps.

The Strategy has been developed by the united allergic community, including the British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology (BSACI), Allergy UK, Anaphylaxis UK and The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation. It provides a co-ordinated, four-nation response to decades of fragmented care.

It aims to deliver significant benefits to patients living with allergies, as well as the NHS and wider public services through prevention, early intervention and more efficient use of resources, reducing preventable harm and addressing health inequalities. It has five strategic goals:

• UK-wide leadership and governance
• Equitable access to quality healthcare
• Prevention strategies
• Whole society awareness and engagement
• World-leading research.

The Strategy also champions two crucial pieces of legislation: Benedict’s Law, which will provide statutory requirements for allergy management in schools, and Owen’s Law which will require written allergen information at the point of ordering across food outlets.

Among the key calls of the strategy is for governments in all four nations to require the NHS to treat allergic disease as a core long‑term condition and plan services accordingly.

That means setting clear national and local accountability for allergy provision; embedding allergy within commissioning and performance frameworks; and adopting UK‑wide service standards that define what good care looks like in primary, secondary and tertiary settings, including the multidisciplinary skills and diagnostics they must provide.

Primary care needs the capability to resolve more non‑complex allergy care safely closer to home – through defined competencies, GP with extended roles (GPwER), appropriate testing and interpretation and clear referral criteria – so waiting lists fall and specialist clinics can focus on complex needs. Access to disease‑modifying therapies must be equitable and timely across every nation, with adoption pathways aligned to national guidance and monitored to ensure delivery.

Young people must experience safe, uninterrupted transition from paediatric to adult services, with defined competencies, audit and capacity in adult allergy clinics to receive them. Government should also expand and upskill the workforce- medical, nursing, dietetic, psychology and pharmacy – by increasing training numbers in allergy, creating flexible development routes and scaling the BSACI Allergy Education Network (BAEN) Allergy Capabilities Framework through the BSACI’s “LearnAllergy” platform so education and service design reinforce each other over time.

This would result in people living with allergic disease being able to access timely, high-quality care throughout their lives, wherever they live in the UK and ensure a NHS workforce trained and organised to deliver it.

Looking ahead, the Allergy UK and the NASG believe that co-development and implementation of the Strategy is the most effective way to address the burden of allergic disease. Allergy UK is proud to have played a central role in the launch of this vital strategy.

The Strategy can be read in full at www.nasguk.org.