Sheffield Teaching Hospitals becomes first Trust in north of England to gain full national allergy status

Along with their previous ' Quality in in Primary Immunodeficiency Services’ title, the certification confirms their position as one of the country’s leading centres of excellence for specialised adult allergy provision.

Staff working at the Clinical Immunology and Allergy Unit are celebrating after becoming the first NHS Trust in the north of England – and only the ninth in the UK – to become a Royal College of Physicians’ ‘Improving Quality in Allergy Services’ (IQAS) accredited service.

The accreditation was given in recognition of the team’s commitment to delivering high quality patient care. This was benchmarked against a set of rigorous standards following an independent assessment of facilities and staff working practices.

The unit already holds full ‘Quality in Primary Immunodeficiency Services’ accreditation by the Royal College. Coupled with the new accreditation award, this confirms its position as one of the country’s leading centres of excellence for the provision of adult allergy services.

The Clinical Immunology and Allergy Unit provides specialist investigations and treatments to patients suffering with a wide range of allergy problems, including those that can be life-threatening, to patients in the South Yorkshire region and beyond.

Dr Dilani Felicia Arnold, Consultant Clinical Immunologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and IQAS Lead, said:

“We care for over 100 patients a week at the Unit including those from as far afield as Lincoln, Scunthorpe, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Grimsby. We provide many specialist investigations and treatments and are the only regional adult allergy centre in the country to offer aspirin desensitisation to patients who develop hypersensitivity to this common drug.

"Other specialist services include reviews of patients with food intolerances and irritable bowel syndrome by the Unit’s specialist dietitian. We also provide omalizumab treatment, which is given to those with severe spontaneous urticaria (hive like rash) which have failed treatment with high dose antihistamines.

“By going through the accreditation process, we have improved the quality of our service and highlighted areas of best practice for our service. It has also allowed for the continued development of our clinical service, which is further good news for patients.”