Allergy service delays ‘put lives at risk’

Public hospital services for treating children with allergies are completely swamped with year-long waits for first appointments, and three-year waits for a vital food allergy test at the country’s most established paediatric allergy centre.

The delays mean children are at risk of “further episodes of anaphylaxis” while waiting to be seen, according to Jonathan Hourihane, who heads the internationally recognised paediatric allergy service at Cork University Hospital.

“The HSE thinks once you are on a waiting list that you are safe, but that’s not quite the case because anaphylaxis can happen at any time,” said Prof Hourihane.