Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has signed new laws allowing more life-saving rescue medicines to be administered by trained members of the public in life-saving situations, such adrenaline for severe allergic reactions.
Read further details here
IFAN respond to HPRA communication on the quality of the supply of adrenaline autoinjectors
in UncategorizedAll three devices currently available in Ireland at the present time have unique elements to their delivery. Patients and carers all have to be trained in advance, in delivery technique.
IFAN believes that merely ensuring that there are enough devices in the country is no longer an acceptable standard. We are a small market and thus a vulnerable market. We strongly believe that the current haphazard supply of AAIs in Ireland is forcing customers to purchase devices that they and other carers have not been trained to use, thus placing patients at risk of not having adrenaline correctly delivered in the event of a life threatening allergic reaction. This could result in a completely avoidable fatality.
Click here to read an extract from the original communication sent to the HPRA on September 2nd 2015.
Response received from the HPRA on October 2nd 2015.
Click here to read IFAN’s reply to the HPRA response on October 12th 2015
Take the kit campaign
in UncategorizedThe UK Anaphylaxis Campaign has created a film that highlights the severity and associated risks of anaphylaxis and the preventable nature of anaphylaxis deaths. Please watch and share.
Adrenaline auto injector access update: Dail question and answer
in UncategorizedJerry Buttimer T.D. asked the Minister for Health if he would provide an update on the public consultation commenced regarding easier access to rescue drugs in emergencies (including adrenaline); when consultation will be complete; when actions will be taken following the consultation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Read the full q&a here
LEAP study: consensus communication published
in UncategorizedNine international professional allergy organisations today e-published a consensus post LEAP study. Its purpose is to “highlight emerging evidence to existing allergy prevention guidelines regarding potential benefits of supporting early, rather than delayed, peanut introduction during the period of complementary food introduction in infants”. The communication summarises new evidence, comments on how this evidence might affect present guidance for early complementary feeding practices, provides interim guidance regarding early peanut introduction and ends with a rationale for evaluating and applying this policy to a high-risk population.
Read the draft e publication from JACI online here
Making sense of allergies
in UncategorizedWidely reported in the media at home and in the UK on June 5th is Making-Sense-of-Allergies: a report which has investigated ideas about the causes, diagnosis and treatment with a group of allergy specialists:
“Theories about 
allergy – some from medical research and some from lifestyle ‘gurus’ – have led to conflicting ideas about whether allergens should be avoided or homes are too hygienic. Shops, clinics and websites sell allergy tests that don’t work. Allergies are difficult to diagnose and share their symptoms with many other conditions. According to practitioners, far more people think they have an allergy than actually do, which might be why people coping with dangerous allergies complain that waiters think they’re just fussy or nursery staff don’t take their child’s allergy seriously. Are the numbers being swelled by the ‘worried well’? Has allergy become a catch-all self-diagnosis that might be masking other problems or anxieties about modern life?”
“LEAP” study findings are published.
in UncategorizedClick here to access the full paper
IFAN in action
in UncategorizedSince inception in 2010, IFAN members have actively been engaged in raising awareness of allergy in Ireland among health care providers.
IFAN’s Dr. Aideen Byrne and Prof. Jonathan Hourihane with ICGP trainers in Lyrath House, March 2015. Courtesy Bobby Studio.
IFAN’s Dr. Aideen Byrne with ICGP trainers in March 2015. Courtesy Bobby Studio.
Attendees in Cork at one of IFAN’s education sessions for health care staff 2013.
IFAN’s Ruth Charles, Teresa Kelly and Karen Keegan promoting IFAN at EAACI’s Dublin FAAM meeting October 2014.
