As a mother of a child with life threatening allergies I am very concerned to read that the BSACI Guidelines state the majority of patients that carry adrenaline auto injector pens should require only ‘1. This is stated clearly in the October 2016 guidelines and has led to slashing of previous prescriptions of 2 to 1 by Doctors without any form of ‘ risk assessment ‘. 

By prescribing only one adrenaline pen you may well reduce the chances of surviving anaphylaxis.

Each pen lasts approximately 5-10 minutes and the patient needs another, before being prescribed steroids in hospital. My child is only 14, in a stressful situation she could easily misfire her pen, pens have also been reported as malfunctioning. 

Ambulances services in the UK are over stretched with many taking over 20 minutes to arrive in an emergency ( regular reports of up to 40 minutes ) and it has been known for them to arrive without the required medication . We also have written confirmation from the head of ambulance services that 999 Anaphylaxis calls are now triaged, with many calls not being treated as a code red response .

The BSACI guidelines also state that people in rural locations will require a 2nd AAI, but not others. You are therefore imposing restrictions on the right to travel wherever the patient wishes. This is totally unacceptable and in my opinion discriminatory. 

Your recommendations are not in line with prescribing guidelines issued by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)  who both recommend TWO pens to be carried at all times. 

Your recommendations have lead to anxiety and stress for many patients and their families who live with enough anxiety already. They regularly have to fight to obtain a previous agreed prescription,  no new ‘ risk assessment ‘ just talk of reducing costs to the NHS by their GP. 

Please reverse your decision, live's will be lost if doctors follow your recommendations , for the sake of saving £26 a year, per pen . #alwayscarrytwo #carrytwo