Mrs Heather Roberts1, Dr Sandra Vale1, Ms Maria Said1,2, Dr Katie Frith1,3
1National Allergy Council, Perth, Australia , 2Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, Sydney, Australia , 3Sydney Children’s Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Background:
Allergic disease is common in Australia, however, access to appropriate care can be difficult. This is due to the low number of trained health professionals to manage the growing number of people affected by allergies, resulting in long wait times. Delays in diagnosis and management can result in unnecessary diet restrictions for food allergies and impaired quality of life, preventable hospitalizations and fatalities from anaphylaxis. People with allergies living in rural and remote areas have even greater difficulty accessing diagnostic tools such as food allergen challenges, which are usually done in metropolitan centres.
What is happening in this project:
The Shared Care for Allergy project is a nationally funded project that aims to improve access to quality allergy care by addressing four key areas:
• Standards of care for allergic diseases
• Education and training of healthcare professionals
• Defining scope of practice
• Improving connectivity between healthcare professionals
This project will involve face-to-face and virtual consultation meetings and focus groups during May and June 2023 to identify the best solutions to help individual communities, and what can be done at a national level to support these solutions.
This presentation will highlight the results of national engagement meetings held in Cairns, Brisbane, Hobart, Orange, Sydney, Darwin, Adelaide, Port Augusta, Albury, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth and Broome.
Conclusion:
Introducing new approaches to care or redesigning services is challenging and can only be achieved in close consultation with people affected by allergies and those providing health services. Shared care is not a one size fits all approach. Our face-to-face meetings will help us to understand region-specific issues, similarities and differences. At this conference, we will share locally developed solutions aimed at improving access to allergy care in the long term.
Biography:
Heather Roberts is the Principal Project Officer for the National Allergy Council. She has a Bachelor of Health Science with Honours from the University of Western Australia and 18 years’ experience working on healthcare improvement projects. Heather is the lead project officer for the Shared Care for Allergy Project which aims to improve access to quality allergy care, especially in rural and remote areas.