UHP Awarded IQAS Reaccreditation
The Immunology team at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP) have been awarded a reaccreditation for Improving Quality in Allergy Services (IQAS)by the Royal College of Physicians.
The Peninsula Clinical Immunology and Allergy service is a specialist tertiary service operating across the whole of Devon and Cornwall. The team made up of just over 30 members of staff, are based in the Eden unit of Derriford Hospital and are one of only nine accredited allergy services in the UK.
With up to 44% of adults in the UK suffering from an allergy according to Allergy UK, the department continues to see an increase in demand, with the team working tirelessly to give patients in the Peninsula the best care possible.
Christine Symons, Immunology Nurse Consultant, said: “Our service covers a range of allergies, from hay fever which we see a rise of in the summer, to food allergies and venom allergies such as bee and wasp stings. 
“We also do a lot of work around drug allergies – it is common for patients who get reactions to penicillin, such as a rash, to be labelled with a penicillin allergy when it might not be an allergy, so we do a lot of work trying to undo that to better understand the root of the patient’s allergy, which widens the access patients have to appropriate antibiotics.”
The process for the IQAS accreditation has strict and robust standards that the service has to meet in order to receive the accreditation.
Rebecca Wosley, Immunology Quality Manager, praises the hard work of the team who made the reaccreditation possible: “The Eden Unit team is tremendously dedicated and hardworking, they go that extra mile for their patients. The whole team pulled together to provide the information that was required to meet the IQAS standards, and this reaccreditation demonstrates the excellent service they provide. It’s a huge achievement to come through an external inspection without any findings for the team to action, and the team is really proud of this outcome”.
The IQAS report summary states: “The service has provided evidence of a cohesive, flexible, and innovative team working which is led by collaborative leadership. It is evident that providing care to patients at a high standard is at the heart of what the team do, and the excellent patient feedback is testament to this.”
The report also found that the team was well led and cohesive, with members of different professional groups working well together. It praised the flexibility and resilience of the team for managing the “enormous growth” in workload over the last ten years, and the team’s dedication to making patients feel listened to and involved in their treatment. The patients interviewed for the assessment reported being “very well treated by all the staff” and giving examples of their “friendly yet professional approach”.
Although, the hard work has not stopped here for the team. In June, they went through the same process for the Primary Immunodeficiency service with the RCP QPIDS reaccreditation scheme. Feed back was very positive on the day and the Team are now eagerly awaiting the published report.
