Private Pediatric allergy clinic?

[midivydale]

Please could someone recommend a private clinic in or around London for a comprehensive allergy assessment for a 3year old?

I am fully aware that not all intolerances or allergies will show on a prick test but I am desperate for an overall review.

My GP will not refer to Kings so I am going private. After weeks of queing at dawn for a phone app, to turn into a face to face appointment for then to be told "maybe its a virus, maybe its hayfever" I have had enough.

Sorry about ranty tone but my little guy has suffered for weeks and I am so upset that we are not getting the support he needs.

Any pointers would be gratefully received.

PM if you prefer, many thanks

[monniemae]

Hello, my GP was happy to refer my then-baby to St Thomas' allergy department (he said we could go to kings or st thomas, but the latter is a national leading centre) - according to the NICE guidelines. At that point she had had two serious reactions to milk and egg. After the first incident we were advised to take her to A&E if anything happened again so we did the second time. We were also prescribed antihistamine.

Crucially, my daughetr was considered high risk for allergies as she also had eczema and relatives with serious food allergies.

The allergy clinic can help with instant (IgE) reactions but less with delayed reactions so GPs can be reluctant to refer if there wasn't an instant or clear reaction eg hives, breathing issues etc.

However I'd recommend speaking to a different GP, and taking photos/videos of any reactions and of course going to A&E if it's an instant reaction.

Allergy UK are very helpful and were able to advise me after my daughter's blood tests revealed various allergies. http://www.allergyuk.org/

[midivydale]

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated. I am trying to self refer to kings but am unable to get through to them. I have given up the GP ref route. There is only so many times I can que up at 7.25.

I phoned a lovely helpline at www.anaphylaxis.org.uk and they have provided me with a list of consultants in London. They were very very helpful in case someone out there need similar help.

[Strawbs]

We sa someone at the private allergy clinic at St Thomas' (separate building to th hospital). I will dig out the details for you. We have privat health cover with my work so it was totally covered but I did see the bills and it was frighteningly expensive!! Let me know if you want the details x

[Strawbs]

Mivy also as I've said before change doctors, dmc are ridiculous. The gardens are very good with childhood allergies and reflux.

[midivydale]

Hi strawbsy, yes please to details. X

[midivydale]

Oh and strawbsy, yup we are gwan. This last week really really took the biscuit.We were holding fire as was dreaming of a future second preg with the Lanes plus the fact that I love most of the GP's there, one in particular who is due back frm mat leave any day. This GP has seen me through alot these last few years so I was reluctant to change.

But we will now, we cant go on like this.

[etta166]

If you're looking at hayfever-like symptoms, the easiest thing to do is to buy and OTC antihistamine and speak to a pharmacist. The symptoms should clear/reduce if it is an allergy and then you have a reason for your GP to refer. This is the route my GP took with my LO, but in the end the anti-histmine improved the sypmtoms enough that I didn't think we neede a referral. The most likely candidate in our case was the cat... so we just minimise contact, don't let the cat in her room and it's all working fine several years down the line. No more asthma-like symptoms or hospital admissions since.

[Bella83]

I took my daughter to see Dr Adam Fox, we saw him at Blackheath Hospital and he was great. He did a prick test and a patch test and I was able to email him the results rather than go back for another appt as there was no reaction.

http://www.adamfox.co.uk

Hope this helps.

[Strawbs]

http://londonallergyconsultants.co.uk/

Mivi, here are the details of the person we saw at St Thomas', he was extremely thorough and as I am an anaphylaxis sufferer I wanted to be sure we were seeing someone who was on top of that particular subject. He was great with DS and really put him at ease even though he had to have blood drawn and scratch tests done. He also diagnosed the eczema he gets on the back of his arms and diagnosed that the facial swelling he was getting (which looked exactly like anaphylaxis) was actually a recurrent staph infection. It has completely put my mind at ease.

x