Low satisfaction with allergy service likely reflects poor access

As Cork has the longest established paediatric allergy service in the country, I think it is appropriate to reassure worried families that allergy services do exist and we respond flexibly to both routine and emergency referrals. However, the clinic in CUH is also overwhelmed and the HSE urgently needs to develop policies and realistic care pathway for all these patients.

While we wait for that the Irish Food Allergy Network has an excellent, medically supported website, full of useful information www.ifan.ie. We have measured quality of life on our food allergic patients and it is predictably highest in those who live nearest to CUH, lowest in those who must travel long distances to the clinic.

The HSE aspires to deliver care locally if possible but this isn’t happening for allergies in Ireland yet. The online survey reported in today’s paper appears to have considered food allergy and intolerances as a single condition, which they definitely are not.

Half of the respondents had not had medical confirmation of the purported conditions. While we do get complaints about our service, (who doesn’t) I would hope the level of 81% dissatisfied parents probably reflects dissatisfaction with access to such a service, rather than with the service itself.

Negative comments always are more newsworthy than positive comments about services but having just left my clinic today, I think most families I met appeared at least moderately satisfied, but I’m biased, of course.

Jonathan O’Brien Hourihane

Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health

University College Cork