There is a wide gap between the first publication of new treatments with efficacy and their successful application in clinical practice. In many respects, the management of allergic diseases is a good exemplar of the knowledge/practice gap. It was assumed that systematic reviews and publication of guidelines would ensure timely delivery of effective care, but this has not proved to be the case. While there are many reasons to explain shortcomings in healthcare delivery, the lack of patient and carer involvement in the planning of research, evidence review, guideline development and guideline implementation is most compelling. To achieve adherence to evidence-based guidelines consistently across all levels of the health service requires the implementation of integrated care with clear pathways through which patients can navigate. Quality improvement methodology could be employed to plan and implement integrated care pathways (ICPs). There is evidence that ICPs achieve improved outcomes for acute hospital-based interventions, but less work has focussed on long-term conditions where more diverse agencies are involved. At all stages, stakeholder representation from the full range of healthcare professionals, patients, their families, social services, education, local government and employers must be involved. In this article we review the step-wise and iterative process by which knowledge is implemented into practice to improve patient experience and outcomes We argue how this process can benefit from the involvement of patients and their carers as equal partners, and we discuss how different initiatives have involved patients with allergic diseases. There currently is a gap in evidence that links patient involvement to improved outcomes. We recommend the use of the Core Outcome Sets (COS) and Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMS) which have been developed for allergic diseases to monitor the effects of implementation research and the impact of patient and carer involvement on outcomes.

Food allergy in children is a major health concern, and its prevalence is rising. It is often over-diagnosed by parents, resulting occasionally in unnecessary exclusion of some important food. It also causes stress, anxiety, and even depression in parents and affects the family's quality of life. Current diagnostic tests are useful when interpreted in the context of the clinical history, although cross-sensitivity and inability to predict the severity of the allergic reactions remain major limitations. Although the oral food challenge is the current gold standard for making the diagnosis, it is only available to a small number of patients because of its requirement in time and medical personnel. New diagnostic methods have recently emerged, such as the Component Resolved Diagnostics and the Basophil Activation Test, but their use is still limited, and the latter lacks standardisation. Currently, there is no definite treatment available to induce life-long natural tolerance and cure for food allergy. Presently available treatments only aim to decrease the occurrence of anaphylaxis by enabling the child to tolerate small amounts of the offending food, usually taken by accident. New evidence supports the early introduction of the allergenic food to infants to decrease the incidence of food allergy. If standardised and widely implemented, this may result in decreasing the prevalence of food allergy.

To develop and validate a new allergy-specific patient-reported experience measure (PREM) for children and their parents, and to collect feedback in an integrated care setting.

Two allergy-specific PREMs were produced using focus groups, cognitive testing, two prospective validation studies (collaboration: Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Picker Institute Europe, Imperial College/London): 'Your Allergy Care', for children aged 8-16 years; 'Your Child's Allergy Care', for parents of children aged 0-7 years.

Community event, primary/secondary/tertiary allergy care settings.

Performance of PREMs in validation study; reported experience of allergy care.

687 children with allergic conditions and their parents/carers.

In total, 687 questionnaires were completed; 503/687 (253 child; 250 parent) for the final survey. In both surveys, demographic variations were not associated with differences in results. Although 71% of patients reported one or more allergic conditions (food allergy/eczema/hay fever/asthma), 62% required multiple visits before receiving final diagnosis. Overall, patient experience was good for communication with patient/parent, competence and confidence in ability, and 73% felt looked after 'very well' and 23% 'quite well'. Areas for improvement included communication with nurseries/schools, more information on side effects, allergic conditions and allergen/irritant avoidance. Allergy care in primary/emergency care settings was associated with higher problem-scores (worse experience) than in specialist clinics.

These new PREMs will allow allergy-specific patient experience reporting for children and parents and help identification of priority areas for improvement and commissioning of care. Efforts towards better allergy care provision must be targeted at primary and emergency care settings and underpinned by improving communication between healthcare providers and the community.

A knowledgeable and competent dietitian is an integral part of the food allergy multidisciplinary team, contributing to effective diagnosis and management of food allergic disorders. Little is currently known about the food allergy training needs and preferences of dietitians. The purpose of this paper is to measure and compare self-reported food allergy competencies of dietitians based in the UK, Australia and USA.

A survey of USA-based paediatric dietitians was developed to measure self-reported proficiency and educational needs in the area of food allergy. The survey was modified slightly and circulated online to paediatric and adult dietitians in the UK and Australia. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations are presented.

A total of 797 dietitians completed the questionnaire. Competency in "developing food challenge protocols" and "managing feeding problems" were rated the poorest overall across all three settings. A higher level of competency was significantly positively associated with length of practice as a dietitian, percentage of caseload composed of patients with food allergy and training in food allergy. The most popular topics for further training were food additives, pharmacological reactions and oral allergy syndrome.

There is a need amongst dietitians to increase their knowledge in different aspects of food allergy diagnosis and management, specifically the areas of developing food challenge protocols and management of feeding problems. This study provides valuable information for designing targeted food allergy education for dietitians.