A Mother\'s Fight For Allergy Testing

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A mother's fight for allergy testing

The NHS is failing people with allergies, a Health Select Committee report says.
One mother tells of her fight to get her children properly diagnosed.

Kiera was not tested for allergies until she was three

Despite suffering from life-threatening allergies, it was three years before Kiera Osment-Fish had an allergy test.

The four-year-old's parents, from Barnstaple in north Devon, first knew something was wrong when she was fed egg as a nine-month-old and started wheezing.

Their doctor said she had an egg allergy.

For the next two years her mother, Christy, 34, kept asking her local health services for testing and treatment for her daughter but was refused.

Mrs Osment-Fish was told they did not have the necessary specialist staff to see Kiera, leaving her life at risk of dying from a severe allergic reaction.

In February last year, she had just such a reaction and ended up in a hospital with breathing problems.

At first doctors said it was pneumonia but she was finally referred to St Mary's Hospital in London, which has an allergy clinic.

There she was diagnosed with egg, milk, nuts, pollen, dog, cat and horse allergies.

It is so frustrating when you know your child is at risk

Christy Osment-Fish

NHS 'fails people with allergies'

Mrs Osment-Fish has also been told Kiera's younger brother, Cameron, two, has food allergies although they are not life threatening. He is set to be seen by staff at St Mary's Hospital next year.

Mrs Osment-Fish said: "We have had to make countless trips back and forth to London for Kiera. It is unbelievable there are no allergy services nearer to home.

"And we are not the only ones in this situation, countless other families have had to go through what we have.

"The doctors who have treated Kiera have been great when they have known what they are dealing with - but it has been such a struggle finding those doctors.

"It is so frustrating when you know your child is at risk."

Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]