BMJ  2006;332:1347-1348 (10 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7554.1347

Editorial

Should UK allergy services focus on primary care?

The time is ripe to rise to this challenge

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The marked increase in the prevalence of allergic disease over the past few decades has left the NHS ill prepared. In response to the Health Select Committee's damning report in 2004 on allergy services,¹ the Department of Health and the Scottish Executive are currently reviewing all aspects of provision of allergy care. Their separate reports will be published shortly. A key question is whether it would be more effective for the NHS to emulate the model used in other parts of Europe and North America and invest in expanding specialist services for allergy or—more controversially—to concentrate efforts on developing primary care services. This choice will have substantial and lasting implications for people with allergies in the United Kingdom and will probably affect the thinking of policy makers in other parts of the world who are grappling with similar rapid increases in the prevalence of allergic disease.

Around one in . . . [Full text of this article]

Division of Community Health Sciences: GP Section, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9DX
(Mark.Levy@ed.ac.uk)

Division of Community Health Sciences: GP Section, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9DX

Education for Health, Warwick CV34 4AB

Harrow Primary Care Trust, Harrow HA1 3EX

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Related Article

Increasing hospital admissions for systemic allergic disorders in England: analysis of national admissions data

Ramyani Gupta, Aziz Sheikh, David Strachan, and H Ross Anderson
BMJ 2003 327: 1142-1143. [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

UK allergy services need a broad approach

Anthony J Frew, et al.
bmj.com, 27 Jun 2006 [Full text]

Primary Care Allergy Services

Andrew J Wardlaw
bmj.com, 30 Jun 2006 [Full text]

Should UK allergy services focus on primary care?

Rita M Mirakian
bmj.com, 27 Jul 2006 [Full text]