Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Meeting, Dublin 9-11th October
The delays mean children are at risk of “further episodes of anaphylaxis” while waiting to be seen, according to Jonathan Hourihane, who heads the internationally recognised paediatric allergy service at Cork University Hospital.
“The HSE thinks once you are on a waiting list that you are safe, but that’s not quite the case because anaphylaxis can happen at any time,” said Professor Hourihane.
The saturated state of public paediatric allergy services is outlined in a draft document prepared by Professor Hourihane and colleagues for the HSE’s National Paediatric Clinical Advisory Group. In it, he describes each of the five services in Cork, Dublin, Drogheda, Mullingar, and Galway as “overwhelmed”.
The document, describing the current chaotic state of our allergy services, says there has been “no HSE strategy to develop allergy care in Ireland”, at a time when Census figures show that 28,600 children have all three major allergic conditions — asthma, eczema, and food allergy.
Paediatric dietician Ruth Charles, secretary of the Irish Food Allergy Network, said difficulties accessing expert opinion meant many parents were “chopping and changing children’s diets themselves, so that kids could end up with significant nutritional deficits”. She said: “For example, a parent might eliminate dairy because their child has eczema [inflammatory skin disease] and this can have a significant effect on bone development.”
The resource deficit in allergy services extends to adults — there is no public adult service — and to the number of doctors, employed in the area. Between the five paediatric services, there are just two whole time equivalent allergy consultants. Professor Hourihane’s document says if we were to follow UK guidelines, we should have nine, but that “a realistic goal would be the creation of two additional full-time posts within the current specialist services”.
Ms Charles said another deficit was the lack of allergy training for undergraduates. She said such training was particularly important in relation to maternity hospital staff, public health nurses, and GPs as the first points of contact with infants with allergies.
The deficits in allergy services are particularly relevant at a time when Ireland is due to host — for the first time — the international Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Meeting 2014, which takes place in Dublin’s Convention Centre on October 9 to 11.
The conference, designed for healthcare professionals, will be attended by worldwide allergy experts.
View full Press Report here
“The HSE thinks once you are on a waiting list that you are safe, but that’s not quite the case because anaphylaxis can happen at any time,” said Professor Hourihane.
The saturated state of public paediatric allergy services is outlined in a draft document prepared by Professor Hourihane and colleagues for the HSE’s National Paediatric Clinical Advisory Group. In it, he describes each of the five services in Cork, Dublin, Drogheda, Mullingar, and Galway as “overwhelmed”.
The document, describing the current chaotic state of our allergy services, says there has been “no HSE strategy to develop allergy care in Ireland”, at a time when Census figures show that 28,600 children have all three major allergic conditions — asthma, eczema, and food allergy.
Paediatric dietician Ruth Charles, secretary of the Irish Food Allergy Network, said difficulties accessing expert opinion meant many parents were “chopping and changing children’s diets themselves, so that kids could end up with significant nutritional deficits”. She said: “For example, a parent might eliminate dairy because their child has eczema [inflammatory skin disease] and this can have a significant effect on bone development.”
The resource deficit in allergy services extends to adults — there is no public adult service — and to the number of doctors, employed in the area. Between the five paediatric services, there are just two whole time equivalent allergy consultants. Professor Hourihane’s document says if we were to follow UK guidelines, we should have nine, but that “a realistic goal would be the creation of two additional full-time posts within the current specialist services”.
Ms Charles said another deficit was the lack of allergy training for undergraduates. She said such training was particularly important in relation to maternity hospital staff, public health nurses, and GPs as the first points of contact with infants with allergies.
The deficits in allergy services are particularly relevant at a time when Ireland is due to host — for the first time — the international Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Meeting 2014, which takes place in Dublin’s Convention Centre on October 9 to 11.
The conference, designed for healthcare professionals, will be attended by worldwide allergy experts.
View full Press Report here
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