Bereaved mothers tell health secretary to appoint allergy tsar ahead of debate

Two mothers whose teenage daughters died from severe allergic reactions have made a personal plea to the government to appoint an allergy tsar “without delay”.

In an open letter to health secretary Steve Barclay, Tanya Ednan-Laperouse and Emma Turay have said there is now “overwhelming” support for the appointment of a national allergy lead, to act as a champion for the one in three people in the UK living with allergies.

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died aged 15 in 2016 following a severe allergic reaction to a baguette containing hidden sesame seeds. Shanté Turay-Thomas died aged 18 in 2018 from a severe reaction to hazelnut.

Following a parliamentary petition organised by the two mothers and the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, MPs will today (15 May) debate the proposal to appoint an allergy tsar in Westminster Hall.

The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation was set up by Tanya Ednan-Laperouse and her husband Nadim following the death of their daughter. They have been campaigning for the appointment of an allergy tsar for nearly two years. The couple successfully campaigned for the introduction of Natasha's Law in 2021, which requires all ingredients and allergens to be listed on food made on-site and pre-packed for direct sale.

“Our daughters’ deaths from allergies were entirely preventable and we have come together for change so that our tragedies never happen again,” said the mothers in their letter to Barclay.

“An allergy tsar would be a significant step forward in preventing more families from having to go through the terrible loss that we have experienced.”

In July 2021, the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation launched the Parliamentary petition calling for the appointment of a tsar to act as a champion for people living with allergies and help prevent avoidable deaths. The petition gained more than 20,000 signatures, and research for the charity found that almost two-thirds of adults (61%) supported the appointment of an allergy tsar.

The charity said that the role would:

• Act as a public champion to tackle the “allergy epidemic”
• Advocate for an increase to the number of specialist allergy clinics, as part of both children and adult services – one in every part of the country.
• Work with government to achieve mandatory reporting of all anaphylaxis events presenting to hospital, to support comprehensive investigation of fatal and near-fatal anaphylaxis events.
• Work with stakeholders to better align primary care and hospital allergy services so that patients have a coherent NHS care pathway.
• Advocate for more specialist allergy doctors and consultants, and mandatory training in allergies for all GPs.

Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, a trustee of Natasha’s Foundation and one of the world’s leading allergy researchers, said: “Allergies are at epidemic levels in the UK. Despite this growing burden of disease, there has been little investment in NHS allergy services for the last 20 years. A shortage of allergy specialists and clinics and inadequate allergy training among GPs means many patients with allergies fail to get the care and support they need.

“Appointing an allergy tsar to act as a champion for people with allergies would be an important first step in addressing this unmet need.”

UK hospital admissions for food-induced anaphylaxis have tripled over the 20 years between 1998 and 2018.