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Allergy charity co-founder says Government explained it is ‘too busy’ to appoint allergy tsar

20th Aug 2024 - 07:00
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Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, a co-founder of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation
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Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, a co-founder of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, says she was told by the Government that they were ‘too busy at the moment’ to appoint an allergy tsar, it was reported by The Evening Standard.

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse passed away in 2016 after experiencing a severe allergic food reaction. The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation was set by up Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse OBE in memory of their daughter Natasha.

At a recent inquest into the death of 13-year-old Hannah Jacobs, who passed away after consuming a hot chocolate from Costa, it was concluded that she died after a ‘failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies’.

Tanya, who attended the final day of the inquest, commented: “What really comes to mind is that so many things can go wrong and the awful thing about a food allergy death is that it can always have been prevented. We’ve been asking the Government for this for a time, and the new Government has replied to a recent letter saying to us ‘yes – we do understand the seriousness of this, but we’re just too busy at the moment’ which was really disappointing.

“So we’ve written to them again in light of Hannah’s inquest, and we’re really urging them, it’s so time critical, and we really just hope to have a meeting with them about appointing and allergy tsar soon. I can understand they probably very are busy at the moment. I do appreciate that, and I don’t think there was any malicious intent in saying that.

“But if you say you’re too busy, it doesn’t give us any understanding or awareness of when you might not be too busy, because I think the work of Government will always be busy. It’s something that we need to just keep pushing forward.”

According to research by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) around 6% of adults in the UK, equivalent to 2.4m people are estimated to have a food allergy. Since 2012, there has been a 615% increase in hospital admissions for anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. 

In 2021 the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation launched a campaign to encourage the Government to appoint an allergy tsar. They received 20,518 signatures in support of their campaign and the topic was debated in parliament on 15th May 2023.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told The Evening Standard: “Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Hannah Jacobs, and all those impacted by this case. Department officials have been in ongoing discussions with the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation about improving support for people with allergies and ministers will carefully consider their views and any recommendations made by the coroner.”

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Written by
Edward Waddell