Allergy testing at home, by the method your doctor uses.

At Blood Tests Direct we have developed a simple screening protocol that clients, who suspect they have an allergy, can take at home. A kit can be ordered directly from the website. The £35 kit contains a medical questionnaire, a small vial that holds 10 drops of blood and all the equipment necessary to collect a sample from a finger prick. The pat-pending finger prick method means that clients are guaranteed to collect sufficient sample without needing to go to a clinic or doctor. The blood is then posted back to the laboratory for a RAST test (The only laboratory method recognised by NICE). The result of this blood test, along with the comprehensive clinical history, are passed to a Consultant Allergist for interpretation.

The client then gets a report that shows their risk of having an environmental or food allergy and suggests specific allergens that should be tested (At extra cost, typically £75) to confirm the diagnosis. These tests can usually be carried out on the same sample of blood. The Consultant Allergist will interpret all the results and produce a report with recommendations on how to minimise the effects of the allergy.

Food allergy is one of the most common types of allergy, NICE estimates that 6–8 % of children have a proven food allergy [1], and that this is a major health problem in Western countries. This is because of the potential severity of the reactions and a dramatic increase in their prevalence. For example, between March 2013 and February 2014, a 6.4% increase in admissions for food allergy to hospitals in England was reported compared with the previous year (Health and Social Care Information Centre)

Allergies to environmental allergens (Allergy causing substances) are even more common. In 2004 39% of children and 30% of adults had been diagnosed with one or more of asthma, eczema and hayfever; and 38 % of children and 45% of adults had experienced symptoms of these disorders in the preceding 12 months [2].

Allergies are an immune response where an IgE type antibody that normally functions as part of the body's immune system and helps to defend against "intruders" is inappropriately released by the body when a specific allergen is detected. Their body sees the potential allergen as a foreign substance and produces a specific IgE antibody. These IgE antibodies recognise the allergen and cause the release of histamine and other chemicals which results in an allergic reaction.

Blood Tests Direct is an online service for Dr Hubert Bland Consulting.

All tests are carried out be County Pathology Ltd, a fully accredited diagnostic laboratory.

All results are interpreted by a GMC registered consultant Allergist.

[1] https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg116

[2] Gupta et al., Clinical and Experimental Allergy 34, 2004, "Burden of allergic disease in the UK: secondary analyses of national databases," pp 520-526. Back

Contact Details:

Phone: 0330 660 0897

E-mail: info@bloodtestsdirect.co.uk