Will a GP accept a private allergy diagnosis?

9 comments

1. I would talk to your GP first because they would have to accept shared care and agree to the medications and monitoring. If they don’t agree you would have to pay out of pocket. You would have better luck in talking to the GP about the issues first.

2. So the answer is yes with a bit of a but.

   I believe am right in saying that in general you’re only getting an epipen for a genuine anaphylaxis and not because wee tommy gets the sniffles and some hives. In general the treatment is going to be avoidance. There are some estimates that as high as 50% of the population having some kind of allergy, regardless of how its diagnosed its still an allergy, not everyone though is going to be carrying about Epipens. My wife is allergic to some chemicals found it skin care products, she looks like a very beautiful tomato if she inadvertently uses one, no epipen or doctor needs to be involved for example.

   To get a epipen you have to be deemed to be a significant risk of anaphylaxis based on what you have said (hives, sniffles) its not anaphylaxis, you would know if it was.

   My guess here is that you’ve went to your GP several times about getting testing for allergies and the GP has told you just how very long that NHS waiting list is so you want to go private, thats fine but my question would be what do you want the GP to actually do about it once you get the bit of paper that says wee tommy has a bit of an allergy to…. wool for example.

3. No.

   They will likely look at it but then do the same tests again on the NHS, especially for common ones like dust, pollen, nuts etc. that are available to test via bloods in GP. If they had an anaphylaxis reaction, then the GP will refer to immunology for further testing and an epipen, but GPs usually do not initiate the epipen. They can prescribe it once the hospital do the testing and start it first.

   If there are certain allergies not available on the GP system, especially minor ones, they refer to immunology, or in the case of skin issues it’s to derm for patch testing.

   Im a GP and this is how it works in my locality, other areas might differ since things often vary by region and ICB. But in summary, no the GP won’t make a diagnosis off private tests, and no, they will certainly not prescribe an epipen based on private tests.

   Allergy tests are a waste of money by the way, many of these private ones are inaccurate and over sensitive, coming up as positive for things you aren’t allergic too and have been fine with. I would just get the GP do to the tests and referral, don’t bother wasting time and money on private tests.

4. Depends on who you see. If you saw a doctor who works privately but also within the NHS then as a GP I would have no issues accepting their opinion

   However allergy testing is full of scammers. I had a patient who paid loads of money to squeeze a machine which then gave a print out. All nonsense and sadly they weren’t well off. Naturopaths and alternative medicine practitioners also unreliable.

   Diagnosing an allergy requires a careful history then either skin prick or blood tests to confirm.

5. No as private allergy tests are basically worthless and just create more work for the GP

6. A lot of private allergy testing is snake oils salesmen. So if be checking it’s an actual specialist allergist doctor – not just any random “medical” person.

   For example there’s only 5 specialist allergy centres in the UK, guys and St Thomas has one. If I was paying cold hard cash I’d be finding a consultant that works there for their NHS job rather than some generic “allergy testing” service. Half the time it’s not even a doctor let alone a specialist lol.

   You can search their name on the GMC register and it should list they are a doctor first off, as now not everyone on there even is… and that they are on the specialist register for allergy. Depending on the age of the child it may be more difficult to find.

   Like this: “This doctor is on the Specialist Register
   Allergy from 01 Oct 2015”

   https://www.gmc-uk.org/registration-and-licensing/our-registers

   If they’re not on there with that phrase don’t even waste your money. Cause that what itll be. It’ll also be very expensive for some hives.. a consultation and full specialist panel could be about 1k. unlikely you’ll be getting an EpiPen from the private doctor either. The point will be to know what food to avoid really if it is food allergy. That’s the most likely outcome you’ll just be told what foods, and not to eat them. Theres going to be nothing to go back to your GP with…

   Far cheaper just to keep a food diary yourself and look for patterns. Also consider it’s not food at all. Parents constantly mistake hives from fabrics or detergents as food allergies. Happens a lot when the parents change the washing powder etc.

7. You wouldn’t get an epipen for those reactions. I had allergy testing on the NHS after a much stronger reaction to kiwi fruit (very visible mouth swelling). It was confirmed but I don’t get treatment for it, just have to avoid that allergen. It was a specialist allergy department. They said most food allergies aren’t dangerous apart from the big ones like peanuts.

8. If you have identified it’s a food why not eliminate it from your child’s diet?

   My teen has a sudden reaction to nuts last summer, they had a blood test at our GP for anaphylaxis but was clear so now just avoids nuts and carries anti-histamines tablets.

   Unless your child is at risk of anaphylaxis you’ll “just” have to keep a food diary and avoid the foods. It’s what my GP said to me, we know our teen’s is all nuts and peanuts. Which are fairly easy to avoid as they’re a common allergen.

9. No.

   I have been through this. Got a private diagnosis and paid hundreds for prescription because GP can’t accept it. They told me it was an insurance issue.

   Had to get NHS referral, wait a year for the appointment and then get diagnosed with the same thing. Worth it because now I don’t have to pay for the meds. Just had to spend a year avoiding what triggered my symptoms.