More children with allergies are now being assessed and treated in the recently refurbished Allergy and Immunology Department at The Royal Children’s Hospital.

Children have reaped the benefit of additional funding of $430,000 for allergy services at the hospital.

Since the Minister for Health Bronwyn Pike announced funding of $430,000 for clinical services and $350,000 for refurbishment last year, waiting times for appointments for children with allergies have dramatically reduced.

“At RCH we have experienced increased demand for allergic disease care,” said Associate Professor Mimi Tang, head of the Allergy and Immunology Department. “For example hospital admissions for anaphylactic patients have increased three-fold in just five years.  This additional funding has made a very real difference for children with allergies.  We’ve been able to develop a new model of care with increased staff and therefore increased the number of appointments for children.

“We’ve also begun community programs, offering education to general practitioners and training for general paediatricians; this means children with mild allergies will receive more immediate attention, and in many cases won’t need a referral to a specialist centre, which will be a great comfort to parents.’

In addition to the Minister’s support of additional funding for clinical services, the Ilhan Food Allergy Foundation has committed $800,000 for research into allergies with much of this work being undertaken at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute at the RCH

Minister Pike and John Ilhan, who established the Ilhan Food Allergy Foundation visited the RCH to tour the new Allergy and Immunology Department and to celebrate a year of achievements.

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