The number of patients suffering from serious allergic conditions has risen by more than a quarter in four years, but there is a serious shortage of specialists to treat them, The Times has learnt.

Experts call upon the Government today to take immediate steps to combat the “massive epidemic” of severe allergic conditions, which can be fatal in the worst cases.

A report submitted to the Department of Health of data from GPs’ surgeries shows that by 2005 an estimated 12.2 million people in England had been diagnosed with an allergy-related illness such as asthma, eczema, allergic rhinitis, peanut allergy or anaphylaxis, the most severe form of allergic reaction.

All these allergies were more commonly recorded among patients from affluent areas compared with those from deprived areas, suggesting that the environment in which babies are brought up could have dire consequences for their future health. Reports from the Royal College of Physicians and the Department of Health have previously given warning that there are not enough specially trained doctors: there are only six specialist allergy centres in Britain.

Pam Ewan, a consultant allergist at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge and a member of the National Allergy Strategy Group, said that the NHS was still failing allergy sufferers at “a series of levels”.

“It is a massive epidemic, and the lack of provision is startling,” she said. “GPs are not well informed about allergy at all, but particularly about food allergy, and that is because they are not trained in it.

“So GPs have gained knowledge by self-learning or self-interest, then if a GP wishes to refer to a specialist he will have a problem because there is a very small number of these.”

An “allergy review” by the Government last year made several recommendations in response to a critical report in 2004 by the House of Commons Select Committee on Health, but no extra specialists had been recruited by NHS trusts, Dr Ewan said. “The Department of Health have agreed on the problem, but have failed to deliver the solution,” she added. Allergic responses are caused when the human immune system responds to allergens such as dust mites, pollen or cat hair. This triggers the release of histamine in the body, causing symptoms such as itching, wheezing, and sneezing, but can be fatal.

The research involved a study of 422 surgeries registered on the University of Nottingham’s research electronic database. One in four patients (24 per cent) had had at least one allergic disease diagnosed in 2005, up from one in five patients (19 per cent) in 2001. Rates were highest in the North West and least common in the East of England, the report says.

Eczema and asthma were the most widely recorded conditions, accounting for an estimated 5.8 million patients each, but the largest recorded increase was for peanut allergy, cases of which more than doubled in the five-year study period.

A Department of Health spokesman said that they were considering asking the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to assess clinical guidelines on allergy care.

“We are working closely with the local NHS to help them improve allergy services, \ whether they need to commission more local training posts,” the spokesman said.

A House of Lords inquiry on allergies is due to report this month.

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