Recent Allergy Posts

  • Centre of Excellence award for Allergy service

    May 14, 2021

    The Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology centre at UHB is officially world class after achieving prestigious international recognition. The West Midlands Allergy and Immunology service […]

  • Food allergy testing project awarded prestigious prize

    May 14, 2021

    Dr Kavitha Sooriyakumar was awarded the Barry Kay prize at the recent meeting of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. She presented data […]

  • Staff prepared for Hay Fever

    June 29, 2018

                    About 30 staff attended a lunchtime drop-in hay fever clinic, delivered by the Allergy team during Allergy […]

Treat Hay Fever early

This year the Allergy Team is again providing a drop-in service for hospital staff who get hay fever. The clinics run from 23rd to 27th April (except Thursday) from 12-1 outside the staff canteen in the Heartlands Education Centre.
It seems early to be worrying about this, but many people start to sniff and sneeze even in March, when tree pollen arrives. Also, treatment for grass pollen allergy should start a few weeks before you expect to get symptoms. So if you get bad hay fever, get advice early, and stock up on your hay fever treatments now.

European Immunodeficiency comes to Birmingham in 2020

ESID, the European Society for Imunodeficiency, will host their biennial meeting in Birmingham’s International Convention Centre in 2020. 

Immunologists from Heartlands Hospital led the bid to bring the conference back to the UK for the first time in 30 years. This unique conference combines patient and nursing groups with a medical and scientific meeting, and is the largest Immunodeficiency congress in the world.

2020 will also mark the 50th anniversary of the first NHS Immunodeficiency Centre, founded at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital by Professor Ron Thompson, so we are planning to celebrate Birmingham’s proud record in immunodeficiency care and research.ICC-External-Night

Hay fever free advice

Twenty Trust staff members should be able to enjoy the outdoors more this summer. They attended our free drop-in sessions at Heartlands, Good Hope and the Chest Clinic, and got free advice about managing their hay fever symptoms.

We were delighted to get feedback that most felt they had learned a lot and would make big changes to the way they treat their hay fever this year. One staff member even planned to ask his GP about getting referred for immunotherapy.

Now get out there and enjoy the sunny weather!

Free Hay Fever advice clinic

The Allergy team is offering free advice to hay fever sufferers working at Heartlands and Good Hope hospitals and the Chest Clinic.

It may seem a bit early to be thinking about hay fever (although if you are allergic to tree pollens you may be getting symptoms already). Grass pollen counts don’t really get going until May, but people with severe hay fever need to be prepared for this beforehand.

Hospital staff can drop in to a free advice clinic on the following dates:

  • Heartlands Tues 2nd May  12.00 – 13.15 outside lecture theatre
  • Heartlands Wed 3rd May  12.00 – 13.15 outside lecture theatre
  • Good Hope Thurs 4th May 13.00 – 14.00  main corridor outside X-ray
  • Heartlands Friday 5th May 12.00 – 13.15 outside lecture theatre
  • Chest Clinic Mon 8th May 12.45 – 13.30

 

 

UK’s first Accredited Allergy Centre

Patient-centered care is what you deliver

One of the most advanced comprehensive Allergy Services in the UK

The compliments flowed when the West Midlands Allergy Centre was inspected by the IQAS team on the 14th September. In the first inspection of its kind in the UK, the allergy service at HEFT was awarded full accreditation for providing a safe, effective and evidence-based service.

Patient feedback was an important part of the assessment, and some patients came in person to give the inspectors their views on the service that they had from the allergy team.

Dr Krishna who leads the team said “I am delighted that the first allergy service has achieved IQAS accreditation following a stringent independent assessment by a very experienced team, and am pleased that it has been my centre to do this”.

You can see more details of the inspection at the IQAS website.

“Fantastic Day Out”

Once again the sun shone on over 100 people who joined us for our Immunology Patient and Family Day on Sunday 3rd July. Patients and professional speakers all shared their experiences of living and working with immunodeficiency. There were moving and inspiring patient stories, updates on treatment and research, and workshops to explore specific topics in more detail. Of course there was plenty of time to chat and swap stories over coffee and lunch.

 

Feedback 3

We’ve had some great feedback and plan to put a summary of the meeting, photos and patients’ questions on this website soon.

 

Feedback 1

 

IMG_8343

Dr Alex Richter speaking to patients from Heartlands Hospital and University Hospital Birmingham about immunoglobulin products.

 

Patient and Family Day 3rd July 2016

This year’s Immunology Patient and Family Day will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel NEC on Sunday 3rd July. Patients from anywhere in the West Midlands are welcome to attend. As usual the packed programme will include talks from expert speakers and patients, an excellent lunch and of course plenty of time to chat and share stories. There will be a creche, so bring the kids.

If you would like to attend, call Margaret on 0121 424 0185.

Patient Day 2013

New Anaphylaxis Campaign Support Group

Patients with anaphylaxis and their family and carers will have a new opportunity to meet others with the same problem. The Anaphylaxis Campaign, a UK support group, has established a new local group in Birmingham. Their first meeting will be at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Wednesday 8th June  6.30pm at the Innovation Hub meeting room.

You can find details at the Anaphylaxis Campaign website or by contacting keithbyrne@msn.com.

Anaph Camp image 2

Spring Cold – or is it Tree Pollens?

 

At this time of year sneezing and sniffles could just be a cold. But in some people these symptoms are actually caused by allergies to tree pollens.

From now until late April trees are shedding their pollen to the wind, causing some people misery with allergy symptoms. The treatments are the same as for grass pollen allergies (“hay fever”) – have a look at our information about immunotherapy, which is an effective treatment for some sufferers.

Inspectors praise Allergy service

The West Midlands Allergy Centre based at HEFT is a “robust, quality clinical service”, according to an inspection by the IQAS team from the Royal College of Physicians. Debbie Johnston, who led the inspection, praised the teamwork and leadership, and was impressed by patient feedback and evidence of good communication. The inspection team specially commented on the fantastic nursing team, and the quality of the clinical management and facilities.

The Allergy Centre was inspected as a pilot site for the new IQAS (Improving Quality in Allergy Services) accreditation scheme. Dr Krishna, who leads the HEFT service, said “I am very proud of the Allergy team that has got this fantastic result. We are well on our way to the full accreditation inspection, which we are planning for early next year”.

Recent Immunology Posts

  • 1 in 3 still very worried about going out

    June 27, 2022

    During our recent Immunology patient webinar, we asked people how confident they felt about leaving the house since the start of the Covid pandemic. Our […]

  • Webinar for Immunology patients

    May 27, 2022

    We are hosting a Webinar for you to discuss your questions about the Immunodeficiency service (and of course about Covid) on the 8th June from […]

  • Psychology service for Immunology patients

    September 23, 2021

    We are delighted to welcome Nicola Wilson, our new Clinical Psychologist, to the Immunology team. Nicola will be available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the […]