Introduction

The children’s allergy service looks after children in Swansea and surrounding areas with allergic diseases.

We are a team of three, two consultant paediatricians, Dr Huma Mazhar and Dr Eliana Panayiotou and supported by our allergy clinical nurse specialist, Angharad Jones. We are also part of the South West and Wales Allergy Network and work closely with Allergy Specialists in Cardiff. 

Allergies are becoming much more common and are affecting many more children than just a few years ago.

Our service is dedicated to providing the best quality of care to children with allergic disease and enabling a good quality of life and a holistic assessment.

Angharad works closely with school nurses and schools themselves to support children particularly those with food allergies to stay safe while in school and also supports professional training for indications and use of adrenaline auto-injectors.  

What we do

We see children up to the age of 16  in the paediatric service. Children are most often referred to the service by their GPs. We run face-to-face, virtual and nurse-led clinics every week to treat children with a variety of allergic conditions including:  

• Anaphylaxis 
• Food allergy  
• Pollen Food Syndrome 
• Difficult to control hay fever 
• Chronic urticaria and angioedema (hives & swelling) 
• Latex allergy 
• Venom allergy  
• Penicillin allergy (if there have been reactions to two different antibiotic classes)  

What to expect

Allergies can be scary and as a team, we try our best to make your visit to the clinic as pleasant as possible. In most cases, you will see a doctor and nurses during your visit.

When you arrive, your height and weight will be measured. This helps if we need to prescribe any medicines and also shows that you are growing nicely.  

Parents, caregivers and patients will then see the doctor and talk through any problems and symptoms. This helps us to understand what you are experiencing and work out if we need to do any tests.

Most often we perform skin prick testing.  This is usually used to confirm a food allergy. We have lots of solutions we can use for testing such as egg, milk, wheat, fish, soya, peanuts, tree nuts and sesame. We do not however have testing solutions for fruits or vegetables so we ask that you bring these with you to the clinic if you think they may be causing an allergy.  

Skin prick testing is not painful but can be very itchy. It does not involve any needles and is different to a blood test. It is usually well tolerated by children and results can be read within 15 minutes.

Sometimes skin prick testing cannot be performed for example if you have taken antihistamines or if you have bad eczema. In these cases, we sometimes perform blood tests instead. Sometimes blood tests are also performed to support skin prick test findings. Numbing spray or creams can be used if blood tests are needed.  

Based on the type of allergic reactions, children may require an adrenaline pen. If this is needed parents/caregivers and children will be trained on how to administer this and when to use it. All children with food allergies will also have an individual personalised allergy action plan that can be shared with schools and after school clubs.  

Ongoing Care 

Patients are followed up in an allergy clinic usually every 1 -2 years depending on the age of the patient and the underlying diagnosis.

Follow-up clinics are either held face to face, as virtual appointments or as nurse-led follow-ups.

Repeat skin prick testing and adrenaline training are performed as needed at these appointments.

Nasal steroid administration training and adolescent discharge consultations are also conducted by our allergy clinical nurse specialist (CNS).

Other teams

Dietetics. Children with multiple food allergies, milk allergy or growth concerns have input from the dietetic team. We receive referrals from the paediatric dieticians with Leanne John and Claire Wood representing the dietetic team within the allergy service. 

Psychology: Having a food allergy can cause a lot of anxiety in children and this can have a major impact on quality of life. The psychology team can support children who have troublesome anxiety related to their allergies.  

Meet the team

Dr Huma Mazhar - Specialist interest respiratory and allergy

Angharhad Jones - Allergy clinical nurse specialist (CNS)

Dr Eliana Panayiotou - Specialist interest allergy