Allergy Buddy

Do you want to help those living with severe allergies and anaphylaxis but you’re unable to commit the time to setting up a support group? If so, why not become an Allergy Buddy?

What is an Allergy Buddy?

An Allergy Buddy is someone who offers support to people who are living with the day to day challenges of severe allergies and anaphylaxis. They provide support on a one to one basis, this can be done either via email or on the phone. Living with an allergy can be stressful. By sharing past experiences and offering support Allergy Buddies can show others that they are not alone and give them more confidence in managing allergies.

What do you need to know?

As an Allergy Buddy you need to be confident in offering support and advice to those living with severe allergies and anaphylaxis. As a new buddy you would initially have a chat with our friendly Information Team who would provide you with advice on how best to support people who may come to you.

New Allergy Buddies can also complete our free AllergyWise online training for Adults with severe allergies, Parents and carers of school age children and Families and Carers of Pre-School Children, to help them feel more confident when providing support.

Sounds good? Get in touch!

If you would like to become an Allergy Buddy please either fill in the online form or get in touch. Once you have read through all the information you will then have a chat with our Outreach Coordinator and our Information Team who will be able to provide you with all the advice you need to get started in your volunteering role.

Helpline FAQs

The following 13 questions are among those frequently asked by food allergic people or their carers, through calls made to the Anaphylaxis Campaign helpline. Our answers have been reviewed by experts in the medical field and food industry.

Are children with nut allergy at risk from conkers?

A few schools have banned games with conkers because they are worried they will endanger pupils with nut allergy. However, we can find no credible reports suggesting that conkers pose any risk to people with nut allergy.

Staff operating our telephone helpline have heard a few anecdotal reports from people saying they have skin reactions to conkers when they handle them. Our lead medical reviewer believes this to be a rare problem occurring equally in people with and without nut allergy. Clearly if this happens, they should be avoided. No one should be eating them as they are poisonous in their own right.

Should people with nut allergy avoid nutmeg?

Because of its name, many people with nut allergy believe that nutmeg must be avoided at all costs. They are almost certainly being over-cautious because there is no hard evidence to suggest that people with nut allergy are particularly at risk from nutmeg, and the incidence of nutmeg allergy is rare. However, not enough research has been carried out to be certain about how much of a problem it is. If you are allergic to nuts and have never had a reaction to nutmeg it is likely that nutmeg poses no greater risk than many other foods.

Do vegetable oils pose a risk for people with allergies?

The most common oils used in the UK are derived from rapeseed, sunflower seed, soya, maize, palm and palm kernel. Where these oils appear in pre-packed food, they are likely to have been refined — a process that removes almost all traces of proteins (the components of a food responsible for triggering allergic reactions). There is some research to support the view that refined vegetable oils are safe for people with food allergies. For example, a project carried out in Southampton showed that refined peanut oil will not cause allergic reactions for the majority of people with peanut allergy and if anyone does suffer a reaction it is likely to be mild (Hourihane et al 1997). A more recent study confirmed the amounts of protein found in refined peanut oil do not trigger reactions in people allergic to peanuts.

With the exception of sesame oil (see below), it is highly unlikely that vegetable oils, when refined, will cause allergic reactions. However, to be absolutely certain about this, research would have to be undertaken on every oil. Some speciality oils, for example sesame and other nut oils like hazelnut and walnut, may contain some unrefined oil for flavour purposes and certainly do present a risk.

(The above text was checked for accuracy by the Seed Crushers and Oil Processors Association)

The reason that sesame oil poses a risk to people who are sesame allergic has recently become clear. A French study has shown that in addition to allergy-provoking proteins present in the aqueous (water-soluble) part of the seed (as is the situation with nuts and other seeds), in the case of sesame seed allergy there are additional allergy-provoking proteins called oleosins that are present in the oily (fat-soluble) part of the seed.

The same study showed that allergy to these proteins is missed by standard allergy tests. Until scientists have devised a reliable allergy test for these proteins, there will continue to be about one in four cases of suspected sesame seed allergy that have completely negative sesame allergy tests, meaning that the diagnosis will need to be confirmed by a hospital-supervised food challenge, where small amounts of the food are eaten to test whether a reaction occurs. Anyone who has, or who suspects, sesame seed allergy should avoid sesame oil as well as sesame seeds and sesame products.

For more information, read our Knowledgebase article on vegetable oils.

If one family member has peanut allergy, is it probable that children born in the same family will also develop peanut allergy?

The tendency to be allergic runs in families. If one family member has a food allergy (father, mother or a child), then all children in the immediate family will also be susceptible to allergies and could possibly become allergic to something. This will not necessarily be an allergy to the same foods as others in the family, and it does not necessarily follow that if one family member has an allergy that is severe, any other allergies in the family will also be severe.

Can you have a reaction from touching or smelling peanut?

The Campaign knows of a small number of cases where touch or smell caused severe reactions for people with peanut allergy. However, some reassurance can be gained from an American study. Researchers observed 30 children with severe peanut allergy while they were being exposed to peanut butter through touch and smell. Accidental contact was simulated by pressing a dab of peanut butter on the child’s back for one minute, and by holding a dish containing three ounces of peanut butter one foot from the child’s nose for 10 minutes.

The results:

None of the children experienced anaphylaxis.
There were no reactions to inhalation.
During the touch part of the study one-third of the children had a mild reaction, such as redness, itching, or a single hive limited to the site of contact. Medication was not needed to treat these reactions.

The researchers concluded that at least 90 per cent of children with the same severity of peanut allergy would not experience a severe reaction to similar exposures. They emphasised that the study looked at peanut butter but not peanut in other forms.

We strongly advise that people with peanut allergy should discuss their own individual case with their allergy specialist before changing their allergen avoidance measures.

I have a son with peanut allergy. Should he avoid other legumes such as peas and lentils?

In our experience, the number of people with peanut allergy who react to other legumes (such as soya, peas, chickpeas, fenugreek, beans and lentils) is relatively small and this is supported by research from the USA. Care is needed, but most people find they can tolerate other legumes without problems. It is important to raise this with your allergy specialist for specific advice.

Are food companies legally obliged to use “may contain” warnings if there’s a risk of cross-contamination?

The use of “may contain” warnings is voluntary and not directly covered by food labelling law. Nevertheless, the industry is well aware that the General Food Law places a requirement on manufacturers to communicate any risk to consumer health following the consumption of their product.

Should I take “may contain” warnings seriously?

Many people find “may contain” warnings annoying because they limit choice and make shopping complicated, but often these warnings are there for a good reason because of the risks of cross-contamination during the production chain. Our advice to people is clear: Don’t ignore these warnings. You may eat a product numerous times without having a reaction but the next time you may not be so lucky. Cross-contamination can be intermittent. Research has shown that the greatest risk of cross-contamination occurs with snack foods.

Will eating peanuts while pregnant or breastfeeding place my child at risk of developing peanut allergy?

Although research is ongoing, there is no evidence at present to suggest that mothers who eat peanuts while pregnant or breastfeeding will increase the risk of their child becoming allergic to peanuts. This includes women in “high risk” families — that is, where there is already allergy.

Guidelines issued by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) state: “The advice for all mothers includes the consumption of a normal healthy diet without restrictions during pregnancy and lactation (breastfeeding)”.

How can I practise using an adrenaline device?

The companies that produce the three adrenaline injectors available in the UK also produce “dummy” devices for people to practice with. The details are on their websites:

Emerade: www.emerade-bausch.co.uk/patient/order-trainer-pens

EpiPen: www.epipen.co.uk/patients/my-epipenr-resources

Jext: www.adults.jext.co.uk/resources

I am worried about the needle length of adrenaline auto-injectors; are they okay?

Each of the 3 brands in the UK (EpiPen, Jext and Emerade) do have different needle lengths but all of them have shown through testing that is required as part of their license from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that they are safe and effective.

Is adrenaline effective in the event of a severe allergic reaction?

Adrenaline auto-injectors provide an effective dose of a life-saving medicine which long clinical experience has shown to be effective in treating the symptoms of anaphylaxis. As well as injecting adrenaline, the person should lie flat with their legs up to keep the blood flowing, unless having difficulty breathing, in which case they may need to sit up to make breathing easier. Adrenaline acts quickly to open up the airways, reduce their swelling and raise the blood pressure. To work effectively, it must be given as soon as possible if there are any signs of a severe allergic reaction. With early treatment those more severe symptoms are easier to reverse, so the important message is to use adrenaline as soon as severe symptom starts as it is a very safe and effective drug. In the UK there are three different doses of AAI’s available. Jext® available in 150 or 300mcg, EpiPen® available in 0.15mg and 0.3mg and Emerade® available in 150 micrograms, 300 micrograms and 500 micrograms. The decision regarding which dose an individual should be prescribed should be made by an allergy specialist. Our advice is always to carry two adrenaline auto-injectors with you at all times.

Is it safe to use an AAI after its expiry date?

As the need to use an adrenaline auto-injector is unpredictable and infrequent, allergic individuals may neglect to check their medication and expiration date. There are currently no published data on the proportion of individuals with expired auto-injector devices, but an audit of insect sting emergency kits, which contained an adrenaline auto-injector device, reported that more than half of the kits were out of date.

Although far from ideal, in situations when the only adrenaline auto-injector available is an outdated one, experts have advocated this should be used providing no discolorations or particles are apparent as these changes would indicate the adrenaline had degraded. Therefore, most adrenaline auto-injector devices (e.g. Epipen, Emerade, Jext) now have an inspection window that allows for the visual inspection of the condition of the adrenaline solution.

Reviewer

This article has been reviewed by Dr Michael Radcliffe, Consultant in Allergy Medicine, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We are not aware of any conflicts of interest in relation to his review of this article.

Other experts in various fields were asked for their opinions on specific sections. These included a representative of SCOPA, the Seed Crushers and Oil Processors Association (section on vegetable oils). The author felt it relevant to record this as SCOPA is a trade body.

Our sources

All the information we produce is evidence based or follows expert opinion and is checked by our clinical and research reviewers. If you wish to know the sources we used in producing any of our information products, please let us know, and we will gladly supply details.

Disclaimer – The information provided in this Factsheet is given in good faith. Every effort has been taken to ensure accuracy. All patients are different, and specific cases need specific advice. There is no substitute for good medical advice provided by a medical professional.

About the Anaphylaxis Campaign: Supporting people with severe allergies

The Anaphylaxis Campaign is the only UK wide charity to exclusively meet the needs of the growing numbers of people at risk from severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) by providing information and support relating to foods and other triggers such as latex, drugs and insect stings. Our focus is on medical facts, food labelling, risk reduction and allergen management. The Campaign offers tailored services for individual, clinical professional and corporate members.

Publication date: July 2019

Review date: July 2022

Our Corporate Food Panel

The Corporate Food Panel provides the Board and staff of the Anaphylaxis Campaign with expert insight into relevant issues facing the food industry related to severe allergies, associated research and advice on related policies and activities. They cover topics such as regulation, scientific, consumer behaviour, supply chain, manufacturing practices and processes and interface with medics. The panel is made up of individuals represented in the food industry who are associated with the Anaphylaxis Campaign.

Below is a list of members on our Corporate Food Panel:

Kathy Tuggey

Hazel Gowland

Julie Barnett

Richard Fielder

Eileen Steinbock

Andrea Martinez Inchausti

Barbara Gallani

Chun Han

Liz Clifford

Peter Littleton

Chris Newbold

Claire Mills

Georgio Locatelli

Simon Flanagan

Juliette Jahaj

Lauren Coyle

Barry Moore

Tony Hines

Rene Crevel

Moira Howie

3663

Allergy Action

Bath University

Biocheck

Brakes

BRC

FDF

FSA

Heinz

Klenzan

M&S

Manchester University

Restauranteur/Patron

RSSL

Sainsburys

Tesco

Trustee- Anaphylaxis Campaign

Unilever

Waitrose

Honorary President and Vice President

Honorary President

Bill Frankland MBE and Lynne Regent , CEO of Anapyhlaxis Campaign

Bill Frankland MBE and Lynne Regent , CEO of Anaphylaxis Campaign

Dr. Frankland MBE, who in March 2019 celebrated his 107th birthday, has supported the Campaign since it was founded in 1994.

Amongst his many achievements Dr. Frankland bought the pollen count to public attention and was assistant to Alexander Fleming (who famously discovered penicillin). Dr. Frankland has also made a significant contribution to a number of organisations which have raised the profile of allergy and spearheaded research into new treatments.

Read more in the series of articles “A Life in Allergy“ which originally appeared in Outlook, the membership magazine of the Anaphylaxis Campaign.

Honorary Vice-President

david David Reading OBE is a former journalist who co-founded the Anaphylaxis Campaign after his 17-year-old daughter Sarah died of an allergic reaction to peanuts in October 1993.

David spent 34 years as a writer and editor with various publications across the UK, including a prominent food and drink journal. After the Anaphylaxis Campaign was founded in January 1994, he worked voluntarily for the organisation as its chairman, became part-time director in 1996, and became full-time director in the summer of 1999. He was awarded an OBE for his work in 2005.

David retired from full-time work with the Campaign at the end of 2009, but retains the title of Honorary Vice-President and works part-time for the organisation at its office in Farnborough, Hampshire.

Honorary Joint-President

The_Lord_Boswell_of_Aynho Timothy Eric Boswell, Baron Boswell of Aynho

Lord Boswell of Aynho joins us from the Latex Allergy Support Group where he was also their president. He is an English Politician who was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Daventry from 1987.

In July 2002, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Education & Skills and for Disabilities. In June 2003 he relinquished his disability responsibilities to concentrate on post-sixteen education. In November 2003, he was appointed a Shadow Minister for Home, Constitutional & Legal Affairs, and in November 2004 he was appointed Shadow Minister for Work & Pensions.

From June 2005 to July 2007 Lord Boswell was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Party Chairman. He retired from the frontbench duties in 2007 and was elevated to a peerage in July 2010. He has been a Governor of Cardiff Metropolitan and Northampton Universities and became a Fellow of City and Guilds in 2005. He became a Deputy Lieutenant for Northamptonshire in 2010. In May 2012 he was appointed Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees in the Lords.

Clinical and Scientific Panel

The role of the Clinical and Scientific Advisory Panel is to provide the Anaphylaxis Campaign with expert insight into health and scientific issues related to severe allergies, associated research and advice on related policies and activities.

Dr Andrew Clark, Consultant in Paediatric Allergy, Cambridge University Hospital Trust

Dr Andrew Clark is an expert in paediatric allergy at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. He is perhaps best known for his exciting study of oral desensitisation for peanut allergy which was published in January 2014. He has written many other peer reviewed articles which have influenced clinical practice, exploring definition of the underlying mechanisms, clinical and epidemiological features of food allergy, use of diagnostic tests and the impact of management plans on allergy outcome. Dr Clark has always worked closely with the Anaphylaxis Campaign in both his clinical and research work.

Following completion of medical school training at St George’s Hospital in 1992, Dr Clark underwent training as a paediatrician at St Thomas’ and Guy’s Hospitals, followed by higher specialist paediatric training at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Subsequently Dr Clark completed a doctoral thesis and clinical training in paediatric allergy under the supervision of Dr Pamela Ewan, at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Dr Clark was appointed consultant in paediatric allergy at Addenbrooke’s in 2003 and he now runs the paediatric allergy service there.

Dr Clark is Chair of the Standards of Care Committee of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, which writes national guidelines for specialist allergy care. He is also Secretary to the European Taskforce on the Allergic Child at School, and was recently appointed expert advisor to the Committee on Toxicity to review peanut avoidance advice given during pregnancy and early childhood. He is a regularly invited speaker at national and international allergy conferences, a reviewer for the major allergy journals and a research reviewer for the Food Standards Agency.

Dr Trevor Brown, Consultant Paediatric Allergist, Ulster Hospital, Belfast

Trevor firstly chose his parents carefully without any allergies. Then as a young adult he developed hay fever and compounded that by marrying a young lady who had both hay fever and a mild tendency to atopic eczema. They then went on to produce a son with asthma and hay fever and a daughter with allergies to both cats and kiwi fruit. There is now a grandson who has had transient cow’s milk allergy as a young infant.

This family ‘Allergy March’ has probably had a lot to do with influencing his personal ‘Allergy March’ within his own medical career to date. Beginning briefly as a GP, then re-training to become a Consultant Paediatrician with an interest in asthma, then a broader interest in allergy and now over the past 10 years he has finally evolved to being a Paediatric Allergist. His multidisciplinary children’s allergy service currently holds the Allergy UK award for the ‘Allergy Service of the Year’.

Recently he has been a member of the NICE Guideline Development Groups for Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis. He is on the Executive of both the Primary Care section of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the European Academy for Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He was also very involved in developing the UK National Care Pathways for children with allergy.

His main focus now, some would say passion, is wishing to see the understanding of clinical allergy improve both within families and Primary Care and then to see practical interfaces set up throughout the NHS between Primary Care and Specialist Allergy Services.

Professor Jonathan Brostoff, Professor Emeritus of Allergy and Environmental Health, Kings College, London

Sue Clarke Clinical Lead for Allergy and Paediatric Respiratory at Education for Health, Warwick

Sue is a Health Visitor in West Essex where she specialises in Allergy. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Health Visiting and is also on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Health Visiting. Sue is the Nurse Advisor and a Trustee for the Anaphylaxis Campaign and has developed their Allergywise eLearning courses which are designed for healthcare professionals to provide in depth information on managing patients with severe allergy. Sue also works as a Lecturer in Allergy and was the Clinical Lead for Allergy and Paediatric Respiratory for Education for Health for 4 years running their degree level Allergy programme. Sue has been involved in the development of several NICE guidelines, including NICE guidelines on food allergy in children (CG116) and NICE guidelines on Anaphylaxis (CG134) published in 2011, the NICE quality standard for eczema in children (2013) and the quality standard for food allergy and anaphylaxis published in 2016.

Dr Alexandra Croom, Consultant Allergist, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester

Professor Tara Dean, Professor of Health Sciences and Associate Dean (Research) of University of Portsmouth Faculty of Science

Dr Adam Fox, Consultant Paediatric Allergist at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals

Adam read Medicine and Neuroscience at Cambridge University before completing his clinical training at University College, London. Having completed specialist training in Paediatric Allergy in 2006, he is now a consultant and joint clinical lead of Allergy at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals, London. He obtained his higher degree (MD) from Cambridge University in 2011.

Adam chaired the Department of Health commissioned RCPCH National Care Pathway for Food Allergy in Childhood and was part of the National Institute of Healthcare and Clinical Excellence (NICE) clinical guideline development group for assessment and diagnosis of food allergy in children. He remains an expert advisor to NICE on Allergy. He is also secretary of the British Society of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.

Adam’s particular interests are food allergy, immunotherapy and medical education. His clinical role involves the management of children with multiple allergic disease including food allergy, asthma and rhinoconjunctivitis as well as children with difficult eczema where food allergy plays a role. He is currently researching the role of sublingual desensitisation in the prevention of asthma and the use of pre/probiotics in tolerance induction in milk allergy.

Professor Gideon Lack, Professor of Paediatric Allergy, King’s College, London

Professor Gideon Lack is Head of the Children’s Allergy Service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and Professor of Paediatric Allergy at King’s College London. He is Clinical Lead in Adult and Paediatric Allergy.

He read medicine at Oxford University before training as a Paediatrician in New York, and then specialising in Paediatric and Adult Allergy in Denver, Colorado.

He led the Department of Paediatric Allergy and Immunology at St Mary’s Hospital, London for 12 years and became Professor of Paediatric Allergy and Immunology at Imperial College London in 2005. He moved to King’s College London at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in May 2006.
His research has focused on the prevalence of food allergies in children, and the relationship between food allergies, eczema, and asthma. He is currently working on novel immunomodulatory treatments for food allergies and on developing new strategies to prevent the development of allergies and asthma in children and adults.

Dr. Rosan Meyer, Principal Research Dietitian, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children

Rosan completed her degree in Dietetics (1995) as well as Post Graduate Diploma in Dietetics (1996) in South Africa. She specialised in paediatric nutrition in the United Kingdom, focusing on nutritional support, feeding behaviour and allergy. She started working at St.Mary’s Hospital, London in 1998. Her responsibilities as dietitian included the paediatric intensive care unit, the feeding clinic, children with neurodevelopmental delay and food allergies. In 2004 she went on to finish her Masters in Paediatric Nutrition, focusing on paediatric gastroenterology, allergies, nutritional assessment and feeding support. In 2008, she completed her PhD in energy expenditure in critically ill children at Imperial College London. She currently is the principle research dietitian at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, leading a project on the burden of gastrointestinal food allergies. Additionally she is a teaching fellow at Imperial College and module leader of the Food Hypersensitivity Module of the MSc in Allergy. She also has a paediatric gastrointestinal and allergy practice in Basel, Switzerland where she sees a variety of allergic disorders.

Dr Anna Murphy, Consultant Respiratory Pharmacist, University Hospitals of Leicester BSc (Hons), M.R.Pharm.S. (SPresc & IPresc), DPharm

Anna Murphy is a consultant respiratory pharmacist at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. Anna led the development of the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association (UKCPA) Respiratory Group and is currently chairperson of this.

The clinical aspect of her post offers assessment, medicines optimisation, monitoring and advice to people with respiratory disease, working both in hospital and within medical practices. Working across Leicestershire the post includes interface care and the development of services for respiratory patients. She recently led a NHS Innovation Project investigating the role of community pharmacists in the management of people with asthma.

Anna currently works with several national groups and organisations on issues surrounding prescribing in respiratory disease. Anna has published widely in peer reviewed journals. She is author of Asthma-in-Focus, a book primarily for pharmacists and other non-medical prescribers and recently produced the ‘7-Steps to Success’ education materials.

Research interests include medicine adherence in people with respiratory disease and pharmacy practice research.

Dr Elizabeth Angier

Liz Angier 15

Liz trained at Sheffield University and went on to do medical training in Australia. She then returned to the UK and completed her GP vocational training in Doncaster. Liz is a portfolio GP who has worked across both hospital allergy clinics and in the community. She has interests in leadership, quality improvement, health systems, workforce remodelling and research. She is committed to improving for allergy the patient’s journey across the health system. Liz has recently relocated to Wessex from Yorkshire where she worked for twelve years in a tertiary allergy clinic. She is now studying full time for an MSc in allergy at Southampton University and is looking to set up a community clinic. She is currently secretary of the EAACI allied health and primary care group and a previous BSACI primary care chair. Liz is also a part time Senior Research Fellow at the academic unit of primary care in Southampton.

Dr Michael Radcliffe, Consultant in Allergy Medicine, Sarum Road Hospital, Winchester

Dr Michael Radcliffe is a specialist physician whose practice is devoted to Allergy Medicine. After graduating from the School of Medicine at Birmingham University in 1970, he completed his clinical training in Nottingham. During his twenty years as GP in Hampshire, he gained a special interest in allergy and developed this interest by visiting Allergy Centres in Europe and the USA. In 1997 he became eligible to be registered as an Allergy Specialist with the General Medical Council and was appointed Allergy Consultant at University College London Hospitals.

Professor Jurgen Schwarze, Edward Clark Chair of Child Life and Health, Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh

Aziz Sheikh, Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Allergy at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh

Aziz trained in Physiology and Medicine, graduating from University College, London in 1990 and 1993. After completing his training in general practice, Aziz decided to pursue an academic career specialising in the field of epidemiology. He has held academic posts in the Departments of Primary Health Care & General Practice at Imperial College, London and Public Health Sciences at St George’s Hospital Medical School, London. He has since August 2003 held the post of Chair in Primary Care Research & Development in the Centre for Population Health Sciences at The University of Edinburgh and since 2011 he is Research Director in the Centre for Population Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.

His research interests include the epidemiology and primary care management of asthma and allergic disorders, medical errors and patient safety, and studying the intriguing relationship between religion, culture and health and he has published and presented extensively in these areas in leading peer-refereed journals and international academic conferences/symposia.

Aziz enjoys a number of editorial positions including that of Editor-in-Chief of the Primary Care Respiratory Journal, Associate Editor of Clinical and Experimental Allergy, Associate Editor of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Methodology Section Editorial Advisor of PLoS Med, and Editorial Board Member of Diversity in Health and Social Care.

He is Clinical Champion in Allergy (Royal College of General Practitioners) and is also a Member of the WAO Special Committee on Anaphylaxis.

Since 2008 Aziz has been working as an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Allergy at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.

Dr Isabel Skypala, Director of Rehabilitation and Therapies, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust

Isabel is the Director of Rehabilitation and Therapies at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust, which involves the management and strategic planning of all therapy and psycho-social services within the Trust. In addition to her managerial duties, Isabel has practised as a specialist allergy dietitian for more than 30 years, her main clinical experience being with adult patients. She established and runs a very successful foo

d allergy service at the hospital in conjunction with medical colleagues.

Apart from her clinical work, Isabel has also undertaken numerous academic studies, completing a postgraduate diploma in Allergy at Southampton in 2006 and a doctorate at Kings College in 2010.

The doctorate was on the diagnosis of food allergy, with particular reference to Oral Allergy Syndrome, the research output from which has been presented at international Allergy meetings in Europe, the USA and Asia.

Isabel also lectures nationally to both undergraduate and Master level students on food allergy at Imperial, Kings College and Southampton University, and has been an invited speaker at several national conferences including those of the British Thoracic Society, the British Dietetic Association (BDA), the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI) and the British Toxicology Society.

She has written two book chapters on food allergy, and also edited and co-authored a book on food allergy, published by Wiley-Blackwell in 2009. Isabel was a founder member of the Food Allergy and Intolerance Specialist dietitians group of the BDA. She chaired the group for four years from its inception in 2003 and continues to be an active member. In collaboration with two other dietitians, Isabel has also established an international network for people who work in food allergy and nutrition. The network, known as INDANA, was officially launched at the recent European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) meeting in London and is now officially recognised by EAACI. Isabel has also acted in an advisory capacity to both the Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency on food allergy.

Dr George du Toit, Consultant Paediatric Allergist at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals

Consultant Paediatric Allergist at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals. Honorary Senior Lecturer, Kings College London. Co-Investigator on the Learning Early About Peanut Allergy (LEAP) and LEAP-On Studies

Dr Jo Walsh, Part-time GP, Norfolk

Jo is a part- time GP in Norfolk, working also as a tutor with undergraduate medical students at the University of East Anglia. Having qualified from The University of Manchester, she worked in several paediatric posts in the North of England before commencing her GP training in East Anglia. She has always incorporated her interest in Paediatrics into her daily practice and more recently developed an interest in allergy. Her knowledge of Primary Care combined with her interest in allergy puts her in a unique position which has led to her involvement in several national allergy projects.

Professor Warner

Prof Warner is the immediate past-president of the Academic Paediatric Association; Early years theme lead for the NW London CLAHRC (an NIHR health service delivery research programme which funded out “itchysneezywheezy” integrated care pathways programme which he leads).

Now retired Prof Warner OBE was the consultant paediatric allergy and chest physician at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Professor of paediatrics at Imperial College London

Professor Warner’s past appointments include Director of Research for the Women and Children’s Clinical Programme Group, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, President of Academic Paediatric Association (GB and I) , and a Senior Investigator in the National Institute of Health Research. He was Editor in Chief of the medical journal Paediatric Allergy and Immunology from 1998-2010.

He has been awarded an OBE for services to food allergy research in 2014 and delivered the Morrow Brown Lecture at the 2014 BSACI meeting. Prof Warner is also a foundation fellow of the European Respiratory Society The JE Purkyne Medal of the Czech Medical Society for work in paediatric respiratory medicine and allergy (April 2001), William Frankland Award, British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (2005 – for services to allergy) , a lifetime achievement award from European Respiratory Society 2009. He delivered the Pepys lecture during the BSACI annual meeting 2011.

Dr Paul Williams, Consultant Clinical Immunologist, Department of Immunology, University Hospital of Wales

Dr Paul Williams DM FRCP FRCPath was educated at Jesus College, Oxford and Oxford University Clinical Medical School, qualifying in Medicine in 1979. He has been Consultant Clinical Immunologist in Cardiff since 1995. He trained in General and Thoracic Medicine at Birmingham and Cardiff, clinical and laboratory research into primary immunodeficiency disorders and HIV biology at Edinburgh and at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington DC, and clinical and laboratory Immunology at Birmingham. His clinical, laboratory and research interests have been in immunity to infection, primary and secondary immunodeficiency diseases, clinical allergy and immune responses to cancer, with over 60 publications in these areas.

He was a member of the Department of Health’s National Allergy Advisory Group in 2005/6 and of the Strategy group of the ensuing Allergy Skills for Health group in 2007/8. He recently chaired the UK National Quality Assurance Advisory Panels in Immunology, which oversees quality assurance of Immunology tests and was recently a member of the Immunology panel of the National Pathology Benchmarking service. His professional roles in 2012 include:

Chair of the South of the UK Clinical Immunology Audit Group
Chair of the Association of Clinical Pathologists Immunology Committee
Member of the Executive committee of the British Society for Immunology Clinical Immunology & Allergy Section
Member of the Royal College of Pathologists Standing Advisory Committee on Immunology
Member of the Joint (Royal College of Physicians & Royal College of Pathologists) Committee on Immunology and Allergy

In his present post his duties include the provision of specialised clinical services in Immunology and Allergy, and specialised laboratory diagnostic Immunology services in Wales. He is responsible for and delivers the teaching of Clinical Immunology to Medical Students at the University Hospital of Wales.

Tanya Wright, BSc Honours MSc RD Specialist Dietitian, Amersham Hospital, Buckinghamshire

Tanya Wright is a registered Dietitian specialising in the diagnosis and management of food allergy and other food hypersensitivity reactions in children and adults with gastrointestinal, dermatological and respiratory symptoms.

She works in the Paediatric Allergy Service at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation trust — a centre of excellence, and also within Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is a committee member of the Food Allergy and Intolerance Group of the BDA (resources), a Steering group committee member for the International Dietitians Allergy Group INDANA, on the scientific board of the Anaphylaxis Campaign and on the Health Advisory Board of Allergy UK.

She is author of several books and recipe books; Food Allergies: Enjoying Life with a Severe Food Allergy(Class Publishing 2001, 2007), Allergy-free Food (Hamlyn 2002) milk free cookbook for infants (Cow & Gate 2006, Danone 2011), I’m Hungry — Easy Family Recipes free from… (2011, 2^nd Edn 2012, 3^rd Edn 2013) and has contributed to books entitled ‘Latex Intolerance’ (CRC press 2005) and Food Hypersensitivity (Blackwell 2010) and various other publications. She regularly lectures at National conferences and on both the post graduate Masters Allergy Courses at Imperial College London, for the Allergy Academy and many other undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

She writes articles and recipes, is a regular consultant to the food industry, to Allergy Support Associations and to other health professionals. She also runs special diet cookery courses for individuals and healthcare professionals.

Trustees

Sarah Lucy Lassman, Chair

Sarah Lassman is a lawyer and has a family member with severe allergies. She has been a trustee of the AC since 2012 and Chair since 2017.
Sarah is committed to ensuring that everyone with anaphylaxis is supported and enabled to manage the condition to enable them to keep safe and lead their lives in the best way possible.

Sue Clarke Clinical Lead for Allergy and Paediatric Respiratory at Education for Health, Warwick

Sue is the Nurse Advisor to the Anaphylaxis Campaign. She has worked as a Health Visitor for many years utilising her allergy skills. Sue also works as a Lecturer in Allergy and was the Clinical Lead for Allergy and Paediatric Respiratory for Education for Health for 4 years running their degree level Allergy programme. Sue wrote and developed the Allergywise eLearning courses for Healthcare professionals, GP’s and Practice Nurses and Families, Carers and Individuals.

These courses are designed to provide in depth information on managing severe allergies and anaphylaxis. The courses are available from the Anaphylaxis Campaign’s website. Sue was involved in the development of the Resuscitation Council Guidelines on Anaphylaxis in 2008, the NICE guidelines on food allergy in children (CG116) and NICE guidelines on Anaphylaxis (CG134) published in 2011, the NICE quality standard for eczema in children, and the quality standard for food allergy and Anaphylaxis (2016). Sue is a member of the Primary care committee of the BSACI and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Health Visiting. Sue has been awarded the fellowship of the Institute of Health Visiting for her work in Allergy.

Femke van der Veer

Femke is a management consultant on strategy and innovation and a university lecturer. She works with large companies like Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline and Nestlé, as well as with charities like Richard Branson’s foundation Virgin Unite, as Director of Strategy & Investments. Femke lectures at Imperial College London and other international universities on the topics of Creative Problem Solving, Innovation and Design Thinking. She has a MSc Industrial Design Engineering and an MBA from Insead. One of Femke’s children has anaphylaxis to milk, egg, sesame and nuts. It is her dream to one day find a cure and in the mean time to help improve the daily lives of people affected by anaphylaxis.

Joanne Walsh

Alison Walker-Fraser

Alison has a background in business consultancy, organisational development and is an accredited executive coach and trained mediator. She gained her Doctorate in Business from Phoenix University (USA). Her business experience, in both charity and public sectors, provides valuable insights for the development of AC. Her husband has an allergy to bee/wasp stings.

Boaz Gaventa

Boaz Gaventa has multiple severe food allergies and asthma. He lives a full life despite knowing about the possibility of having an anaphylactic reaction from cross-contamination or mislabelling of food. Boaz has used his experiences with personal allergies to communicate the challenges and ways to mitigate the risks in living his allergic life. He has done this through short interviews for Sky and BBC news, speaking in Parliament advocating for the allergic patient and attending Free-From shows on behalf of the Anaphylaxis Campaign.

He is a medical student at King’s College London and continues his patient advocacy by speaking at healthcare professional conferences such as BSACI, FARE, Allergy Academy and others. Boaz has experience in allergy studies first as a patient and later as part of a steering committee. He has also been on a diagnostic advisory committee for NICE.

Boaz is a young trustee with a wealth of personal experience of allergy and is developing a working knowledge of the healthcare world.

Alison Skinner MBA, FCCA

I have been an accountant for all my career. I am a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and gained my MBA at Kingston University Business School. I have worked in both the private sector; finance, manufacturing and retail and the public sector. I had a long and interesting career in the NHS, including roles as Finance Director in both Primary Care Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups. I now have a small Management Consultancy and am pleased to be involved in several voluntary activities. I am an Independent Visitor for Looked after Children for Surrey Social Services and a Mentor with Surrey Care Trust. I assisted with numeracy and literacy in my local primary school and am a trustee for my local village community centre.

I am a carer for elderly parents and family and friends are very important to me.

I have a wide range of interests, including theatre, sports, and travel. In my spare moments, I am a Soroptimist, keen skier, novice golfer, qualified cricket scorer, and support Crystal Palace.

I am pleased to bring my experience and expertise to support the important work of the Anaphylaxis Campaign

To see the current Register of Trustees’ Interests please click here

Anaphylaxis Campaign Membership: Individuals

Join as a member of the Anaphylaxis Campaign today and receive information and advice for managing your own allergy, while helping us to raise the profile of severe allergy and support others who live with life threatening allergies.

Already a member? Login to renew your membership.

Why join as a member?

For less than 7p a day you will join thousands of people just like you who benefit from our experience, our relationships with the experts in the field, and our unique understanding of what it’s like to manage severe allergies.

Our members tell us they…

Feel more relaxed due to our personalised alerts system. Our allergy alerts are tailored to your needs via text or email to warm you if a product has been mislabeled and may pose a risk

Are better informed and inspired to do things which use to worry them. As a member you will be kept up-to-date on current news impacting you and read stories and tips from others living with severe allergies via our email newsletters. Our online AllergyWise courses which are free of charge, help you better handle life with a severely allergy and any potential emergencies

Feel less alone and more confident. You will feel less isolated as there’s always someone to speak to who understands the difficulties of living with a severe allergy. Members are able access to our Tried & Trusted review directory, allowing you to share your experiences and learn from the experiences of others just like you when seeking allergy-friendly pubs, restaurants, airlines, hotels and more.

Feel EMPOWERED! As part of the only UK-wide organisation that strives to improve the lives of those with severe allergies, our members are making a real difference. Every single member helps us have an even louder voice to bring about change.

Membership is just £19 annually (£25 for overseas members).
You can…

Do it online — complete your registration with our online form
Download our membership form — complete with your details and send back to us
Ring us on 01252 893859

Become a Friend
If you’d like to keep in touch with us and contribute towards our work, but now is not the right time for you to join as a member, you can still support us by becoming a Friend of the Anaphylaxis Campaign.

Our Patrons

Here at the Anaphylaxis Campaign, we’re lucky enough to have three wonderful celebrity Patrons to help promote and support us in our efforts to raise awareness of anaphylaxis and severe life threatening allergy.

They are:

Mark Foster, World Champion and Olympic Swimmer

mark-foster
Mark Foster is amongst the most successful British swimmers of all-time.

Specialising in short course (25 metre pool) and butterfly and freestyle at 50 metres, Mark has represented his country more times and been more decorated than any other male swimmer. Mark has held both the world record for 50m Freestyle and 50 Butterfly at the same time during a glittering career spanning three decades.

Mark has been a patron of the Anaphylaxis Campaign since May 2009. He won £10,000 for the Campaign in September 2009 by participating in ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ Mark has also assisted the Campaign by taking part in our new films, available on YouTube.

Mark’s good friend, Scottish athlete Ross Baillee, sadly died from anaphylaxis in 1999 shortly after having lunch following a training session.

Mark said “Before Ross’ death I did not realise that something you cannot see can be so dangerous. I want to make a difference and help people who also have severe allergies. This is why I became involved with the Anaphylaxis Campaign.”

Giorgio Locatelli, Michelin-Starred and Television Chef

Giorgio grew up in Northern Italy where his love for food and cooking was nurtured from an early age as his family ran a Michelin-starred restaurant. He has worked across Europe, from Italy to France, Switzerland to the UK. He’s been head chef at a prestigious London restaurant and has gone on to independently open a range of restaurants to critical acclaim, including most recently celebrity favourite, Locanda Locatelli. Giorgio’s has starred in many TV series, such as the BBC’s Italy Unpacked which explored Italy’s history, culture, food, art and landscape.

Giorgio’s daughter Margherita, 16, has multiple food allergies and severe eczema. Giorgio has previously reflected on the possibility of links between early exposure to a wide variety of foods and the development of allergies in children, something which his career as a chef may have influenced. Despite her allergies, Margherita is a great food lover and has even expressed an interest in following in her father’s food steps into the catering and hospitality industry & and who wouldn’t, with such a great teacher on hand!
Giorgio and wife, Plaxy, are pleased to be active patrons for The Anaphylaxis Campaign since 2012.

Jo Frost, Global Parenting Expert

jo frost-0426 rt

Jo Frost brings her personal experience with food allergies, along with her childhood development expertise as a global parental expert and international celebrity status to the UK to help the Anaphylaxis Campaign’s work educating children, adolescents and adults about the issues of health and safety surrounding food allergies.

Jo Frost said; “As a global voice for those who live with life threatening allergies I am grateful to have the opportunity to join forces with an esteemed organisation like the Anaphylaxis Campaign. Together we will make strides in bringing awareness and education to communities and individuals who are less informed about this medical condition, creating inclusion and equality for those of us living with anaphylaxis.”

About Jo Frost:

Distinguished and beloved global parenting expert, Jo Frost, has been in our living rooms for over fifteen years. Both producing and starring in a variety of television shows including Supernanny, Family Matters, Family SOS, Extreme Parental Guidance and her newest show-Jo Frost; Nanny on Tour. For Jo, television has become her most successful medium to deliver her techniques and teachings to those who need them most with the repeats of past seasons becoming a vast library of step-by-step assistance for families. Furthermore, her six books on parenting, the most recent being: Jo Frost’s Toddler Rules, have become the go-to guides for parents universally; all of who value her no nonsense yet caring approach that has helped millions of families across the world to achieve what they believed unachievable.

Jo Frost is the most recognizable and trusted parental expert and family advocate worldwide. Earning this reputation through over two decades of expert execution of professional and highly effective advice to millions of families. Frost has always had a natural gift for connecting with children on their own level, and moreover organically connecting both parent and child.

Prescription Charges Coalition

The Anaphylaxis Campaign is a member of The Prescription Charges Coalition, a group of more than 30 organisations campaigning to end unfair prescription charges for people with long term medical conditions, including severe allergies.

Lib-Dem MP Sir Bob Russell:

“Free prescriptions for those who need them to live””It is a matter of considerable concern that many people with long-term conditions are not collecting or taking their medicines effectively because of the cost, as is all too clearly illustrated in the Prescription Charges Coalition’s recent report “Paying the price”. The coalition surveyed almost 4,000 patients with long-term conditions and found that 35 per cent who paid for their prescriptions had not collected medicines due to cost.”

We are campaigning to extend exemption from prescription charges to all those with long-term conditions in England. The coalition brings together over 40 organisations representing hundreds of thousands of people with numerous long term health conditions. We are involved as the current system, created in 1968, is unfair and very out-of-date, with some long term conditions qualifying people for free prescriptions whilst others do not.

This affects us at the Anaphylaxis Campaign because allergy often requires regular and long term prescriptions which are not exempt from charges despite being essential to day to day quality of life and, in the case of adrenaline injectors, lifesaving.

The impact of paying for prescriptions whilst living with a long term condition is both serious and widespread as the Prescription Charges Coalition reports show. You can read the reports here.

The Collation published their “Paying the Price” report on 11th March 2013. The report details the findings of an online survey which ran from 8th August – 31st October 2012 to explore the impact of prescription charges on people with long-term conditions in England in the current economic climate.

Past research and experience from health professionals has identified that prescription charges have had a significant impact on patients taking their medication correctly, despite the existence of the Prescription Prepayment Certificate and exemptions for charges for those with some specific medical conditions and for those in receipt of certain state benefits.

We hope to tackle this problem of expense and injustice through the Prescription Charges Coalition. For further information, and to get involved, visit the website here.

You can also show your support or share your experiences via Twitter at @prescriptionCC

What can you do to help?

We need your help to raise the profile of this issue and bring it to top of the agenda.

STEP 1:

Fill out this simple form and send directly to your MP now!

STEP 2:

Keep on the pressure! Tweet your MP and copy us [email protected]

STEP 3:

Sign the petition!
Find out more on the campaign here.

Update

February 2019

The Government has announced that the NHS prescription charge in England is set to increase by 20p to £9.00 from Monday 1^st April 2019. The cost of a prescription prepayment certificate for 3 months will remain £29.10 and a prescription prepayment certificate for 12 months will remain £104.

The Anaphylaxis Campaign are part of the Prescription Charges Coalition and are campaigning to extend exemption from prescription charges to all those with long-term conditions in England. The coalition brings together over 40 organisations representing hundreds of thousands of people with numerous long-term health conditions. We are involved as the current system, created in 1968, is unfair and very out-of-date, with some long-term conditions qualifying people for free prescriptions whilst others do not. This affects us at the Anaphylaxis Campaign because allergy often requires regular and long-term prescriptions which are not exempt from charges despite being essential to day to day quality of life and, in the case of adrenaline injectors, lifesaving.

The impact of paying for prescriptions whilst living with a long-term condition is both serious and widespread as the Prescription Charges Coalition reports show. You can read the reports here.

For further information on the Prescription Charges Coalition, and to get involved, visit the website: http://www.prescriptionchargescoalition.org.uk/

You can also show your support or share your experiences via Twitter at @prescriptionCC

Eating Out

Don’t make a meal out of Valentine’s Day dining

Whilst a romantic meal for two can be the perfect way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, for people living with food allergy it can provide unwanted stress.

By law, food businesses selling catered food (for example in restaurants, takeaways and hotels) are required to provide information on 14 major food allergens, either in writing and/or verbally. If information is provided verbally, the food business will need to ensure that there is some sort of written signage that is clearly visible, to indicate that allergen information is available from a member of staff.

We’d recommend calling the restaurant in advance to ask whether they will help you choose a suitable meal. Then, when you arrive, speak to staff and ask about ingredients, how the food is prepared and whether cross-contamination is likely. Check again when your meal arrives that your dish is free from your allergens and that it has been prepared safely. Keep your adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) with you at all times, just in case.

If you’re not confident that your request is being taken seriously, whilst it may put a dampener on your evening, it is much better to stay safe, so it may be better to eat elsewhere.

If you are concerned about eating out, a home-made meal can be just as romantic. Members can also check our ‘Tried and Trusted‘ area to find out which restaurants have been recommended by other members.

We have two advice guides about eating out on our website, which you can find here or here.