Memorandum by Professor Stephen Holgate
and Dr Pamela Ewan (AL 19)
THE PROVISION
OF ALLERGY
SERVICE
1. We are writing to you jointly as Chairman
of the recent Royal College of Physicians review committee on
Allergy and of the National Allergy Strategy Group (NASG) and
as President of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology
(BSACI).
2. The NASG is an alliance of organisations,
each of which is independent of the others, that have agreed to
work together with the specific objective of seeking improvement
in NHS allergy services. The alliance has existed since 2001.
Its core members are BSACI, The Anaphylaxis Campaign and Allergy
UK. Other organisations, such as those who provide training in
allergy, lend help. Some pharmaceutical companies have provided
grants which support our activities. We remain independent of
all affiliations and of each other.
3. We are pleased and gratified that the
Committee is holding its enquiry into the provision of allergy
services; we will help the work of the Committee in any way we
are able to.
4. The publication of the report of the
Royal College committee (Allergy: the Unmet Need, June
2003) was a seminal event. The review committee met and took evidence
for over a year; commissioned research; and thoroughly explored
the state of allergy in Britain. The report, together with correspondence
with Department of Health Ministers, will we believe, be important
source documents for the Committee's work.
5. We have annexed to this letter—
(a) a recent letter and a paper written initially
for Dr Ladyman at the Department, following contacts with the
Minister at the beginning of the year. The paper, which we have
called "Making a Start", was written in an attempt to
clear up possible misinterpretations by the Department of what
was proposed by the Royal College and to set the developing situation
in context. We hope that the Committee will accept correspondence
as evidence and that it helps your work; and
(b) copies of past correspondence with Department
of Health Ministers and officials.
May 2004
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