A campaign is calling for improvements to allergy care in the UK, as patients wait for years for specialist help.

Underpinning the initiative is a demand for more consultants in the speciality, better education for general practitioners and improved access to testing facilities for allergy sufferers.

The UK has one of the highest allergy rates in the developed world, with up to a fifth of the population suffering from some affliction, according to the National Allergy Strategy Group (NASG), which has launched the campaign.

Some of these are life-threatening and all pose a major public health problem.

The problem is getting worse with common allergies such as asthma, hayfever and eczema increasing in frequency two to three-fold.

A recent study by the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI - a member of the NASG), found that for the UK population of 59.1million there is only one allergy specialist per 3.4million people.

Consultant deficit

This contrasts with one specialist per 90,000-100,000 of the UK population for consultant cardiologists, consultant chest physicians and consultant gastroenterologists.

NASG founder member Professor Stephen Holgate said: "The NHS would only have to spend around �3.3m to staff all 11 NHS regions with two specialist allergy consultants and their support teams.

"This is the absolute minimum necessary to cut waiting time for an allergy test which in some parts of the country can be up to seven years."

According to Prof Holgate, there are only six allergy clinics in the UK offering a comprehensive service to GPs and patients.

Allergy Awareness and Action calls for a rethink of allergy care provision by trust managers, regional commissioners and the Department of Health.

In addition, the NASG wants better education of GPs who in many cases receive little or no training in allergy care during their time at medical school.