In 2007 , the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee published its report into allergy. It set out various recommendations for the improvements of allergy service provision across the UK. Three years later, a Joint Working party reviewed the changes that needed to be made to service provision since the publication of the 2007 report.
Evidence was been gathered from patient groups, professional groups, medical royal colleges, the Department of Health, and from the North West Strategic Health Authority, which was specially funded to pilot suggested improvements in allergy care.
The recommendations of the 2007 report are listed individually, and the evidence relevant to each recommendation presented, with conclusions drawn on the extent to which the recommendations have been met. In some places, further updated recommendations are suggested to improve allergy services.
The overall conclusion is that the actions taken to implement the original recommendations in full have been largely unsatisfactory, but many examples of best practice have been identified. Utilisation of the existing expertise of allergy specialists and the sharing and dissemination of local initiatives is suboptimal. Improved leadership and effective networking are integral to the future development of allergy services.