Upskilling healthcare professionals to manage clinical allergy

It has long been recognised that given the high prevalence and considerable impact of allergic disease globally, there needs to be a focus on appropriate training for clinical professionals. The health-economic consequences of allergic disease are significant, with both direct healthcare costs (doctor, nurse and dietitian consultations, hospital admissions and prescribed medications) and indirect costs (lost school and work time, reduced productivity and over-the-counter medications). There is also a well-recognised impairment of quality of life, with less tangible costs including anxiety, distress, discomfort, disability and, occasionally, death. To help to mitigate these effects, there is a need to upskill the professional workforce at all levels, and also to equip those trained with the skills to become future healthare professional trainers. Upskilling the workforce from the grass-roots of undergraduate study in Medical, Nursing and Allied Health Professionals (AHP) through the entirety of training to senior consultant levels could have a major beneficial impact on the patient and their families, lead to a reduction in emergency use of clinical service, and help increase economic productivity.