Allergies (Hansard, 8 September 2003)

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many specialist allergy clinics there are in the NHS. [127627]

§ Dr. Ladyman
The Royal College of Physicians published their report 'Allergy the unmet need, A Blueprint for better patient care' on 25 June 2003. Their report refers to the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI) and British Allergy Foundation (BAF) respectively, who compiled a list of national health service allergy clinics which were NHS consultant-led and based at NHS hospitals in the United Kingdom.
The subsequent BSACI handbook "National NHS Allergy Clinics" (2001) lists 86 NHS consultant led clinics in the UK. There were an additional 15 clinics run by NHS consultants identified by the British Allergy Foundation (BAF) in the handbook. Six of these 101 clinics offered services led by a whole-time specialist allergist.

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS trusts have reported vacancies for allergy specialists. [127628]

§ Mr. Hutton
The National Health Service vacancy survey collects information on the number of posts which trusts are actively trying to fill which have been vacant for three months or more. As at 31 March 2003, there was one three month consultant vacancy in allergy in England.

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many allergy sufferers are on waiting lists for NHS treatments. [127626]

§ Dr. Ladyman
The information requested is not centrally collected. Waiting list data are collected according to the type of specialist the patient is due to see and therefore the number of allergy sufferers waiting for treatment are not separately identifiable as they may be included in a range of specialist waiting lists. However, all patients for consultant led hospital treatment, including those with allergies, are benefiting from shorter maximum waiting times.