Parliamentary Event and Patient Charter

Allergy UK has formally launched a new Patient Charter for Allergy at a Parliamentary Reception hosted at the House of Commons. The reception, held on 11th May 2022, brought together Parliamentarians, clinical experts, and Allergy UK to discuss the profound impact that allergies can have on quality of life.

The reception formally began by a series of speeches from the following:

  • Jon Cruddas MP(Dagenham & Rainham, Labour), Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Allergy, Allergy UK Parliamentary Champion, and sponsor of Parliamentary Reception.
  • Louie French MP (Old Bexley & Sidcup, Conservative),  Allergy UK Parliamentary Champion
  • Ella Stoneham, Allergy UK Advocate
  • Carla Jones, Chief Executive Officer, Allergy UK

Watch the speeches in the video below.

Gallery

Allergy UK has developed a 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.

Allergy has been referenced as a ‘global epidemic’ by the World Health Organisation. In the UK, it is estimated around 41 million people have one or more allergic condition. It affects all ages and can develop at any stage in a person’s life – it can be unpredictable and sometimes fatal:

  • Allergy and related conditions are estimated to cost the NHS about £1 billion a year
  • About half a million people admitted to NHS hospitals each year
  • 615% increase in hospital admissions related to all-cause anaphylaxis over the last 20 years

For people who do not experience allergy in their lives it can be viewed as a trivial and insignificant condition.  However, the realities of living with an allergy can be very far from this perception.  The evidence we have gathered from our major research study is powerful in capturing the immense challenges of living with allergy:

  • 61% would like government to do more to help people with allergies
  • 65% of parents wanted specialist allergy nurses in GP surgeries
  • 64% parents wanted allergy services in hospitals, GP surgeries and local pharmacies
  • 63% of parents wanted quick tests to identify allergy
  • 65% say their child has felt discriminated against in a restaurant, because there was nothing they could safely eat
  • 72% of parents feel that sometimes their children’s allergies are not taken seriously
  • 76% feel people should take allergies seriously

The Vision for Patient Charter is:

  • Achievement of a quality standard of care for everyone with allergy throughout the UK
  • Empowerment of patients with allergic conditions to understand and manage their condition with support from informed healthcare professionals
  • 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.

Click here to read the full Patient Charter