Flying to doctor for service

By ELIZABETH BINNING

Each time Nelson teenager Emma-Jayne Turner visits her allergy specialist she takes a day off school, wakes up extra early and boards a flight to Auckland.

She has severe multiple allergies which have been affecting all aspects of her life since she had her first reaction as a 5-month-old.

There are very few foods she can eat and she reacts to something most days, causing constant eczema flare-ups, rashes and facial swelling. In the worst cases Emma-Jayne has full anaphylactic reactions - a life-threatening body shutdown sparked by an allergy - and has to be resuscitated.

The 15-year-old is one of dozens of severe allergy sufferers who are forced to travel long distances in order to see a specialist for life-saving treatment and checkups.

Once in Auckland she spends an hour with her specialist then tries to find something to do for the rest of the day before boarding an early evening flight back home.

She repeats the process every three months.

Emma-Jayne, however, is one of the lucky ones. Hundreds of other allergy sufferers do not get to see a specialist or are still waiting to see one for the first time.

At least 50 per cent of New Zealanders have an allergy problem and yet there are only eight specialists - and they are based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Dr Marianne Empson, clinical director and immunologist at Auckland Hospital, said demand for the specialists grew so much last year that Auckland staff were forced to stop taking new referrals because they could not keep up.

Now the waiting times are down to about six months but those being seen are still fairly serious cases and are mainly from the main cities.

Dr Empson said hundreds of other sufferers were not being seen and there was unlikely to be an improvement until a nationally funded allergy service was introduced.

Allergy NZ president Natalie Lloyd said such a service would allow the eight specialists, most of whom are only part-time, to work fulltime and set up satellite clinics around the country.

The organisation wants people to push for a change in allergy specialist funding, which is currently in the hands and at the discretion of district health boards.

"We really don't want to wait for a fatality to occur here before allergy actually reaches some sort of priority status," she said.

Emma-Jayne's mother, Wendi Turner, who has been accompanying her daughter to Auckland for the past 18 months, is behind the campaign.

"Nelson to Auckland is an awful long way to come.

"It's a big cost to us," she said.

"Emma's missing one or two days at school for a one-hour-long appointment which affects her education and future as well."