Emergency kits from St George’s will save schoolchildren harbouring deadly allergies

A life-saving scheme for children with allergies is being rolled out across 140 primary and secondary schools. 

The childcare specialist hospital St George’s in Blackshaw Road, Tooting is providing adrenaline autoinjectors – or ‘EpiPens’ – in the first initiative of its kind in the UK. 

The emergency allergy bag scheme means that if a pupil with known allergies has a reaction and their adrenaline auto-injector is unavailable or expired, help is at hand.

It can also help if someone experiences an allergic reaction who was not known to have allergies.

This provides children, parents and schools with an additional layer of protection and reassurance. 

Among those who are thankful for the scheme are Matt and Sally Walker, from Balham, as their teenage son, 15-year-old Charlie, has an allergy to peanuts and soya protein.  

Mr Walker said: “As a parent of a child with life-threatening food allergies it’s a constant worry and we have had several events where Charlie has needed quick intervention, but it is a great reassurance that St George’s has put this programme in place in local schools. 

“Having the allergy emergency bags containing spare adrenaline devices and training all staff how to spot signs of serious allergic reactions and how to administer EpiPens will save lives.” 

Matt’s son, Charlie, said: “I know first-hand how valuable this knowledge and resource is. Allergic reactions can vary so much, and food labelling and serving staff information isn’t always quite as obvious or good as it should be.” 

St George’s is the one of the largest paediatric allergy centres in London and receives approximately 1,200 new patient referrals every year.  

The St George’s team set the emergency allergy bag scheme up in response to two deaths in north London schools in 2016. 

Pictured top: What the allergy bags look like (Picture: St George’s Hospital)