Our Call to Build a National Allergy Register into the Single Patient Record

At present, the collection of allergy data across the UK is poor. Coding for allergy is not consistent across health boards and devolved nations, so we do not have a true picture of the scale of the allergy problem.

Announced as part of the 10 Year Health Plan for England, the Government’s Single Patient Record (SPR) will provide every patient with a secure, lifelong digital record that can be accessed by both them and healthcare professionals. Integrating allergy data directly into the SPR from day one in the form of a National Allergy Register would ensure that a person’s allergy history follows them wherever they interact with the health system – from GP surgeries and pharmacies to hospitals and community clinics.

Allergy UK is calling for a National Allergy Register that consolidates patient data nationwide, creating unified understanding of allergy prevalence. Beyond the quality-of-life improvements for those living with allergies, accurate data is vital for knowing what services need to be commissioned and to ensure the safeguarding of people with allergies. Our findings highlight the alarming lack of service accessibility and the absence of reliable data on patient experience metrics and outcomes. The promised single patient record must include consolidated allergen information, to tackle major shortfalls in the management and collection of allergy data, and to enable informed commissioning of appropriate health care solutions capable of delivering at primary care level, a cornerstone of the national neighbourhood health implementation programme.

This would:

• Prevent dangerous prescribing errors and avoidable hospital admissions.
• Improve diagnostic accuracy and save time for clinicians.
• Enable local NHS systems to plan services using real population level data.