TY - JOUR T1 - The problem of allergy JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 135 LP - 135 DO - 10.3399/bjgp08X277159 VL - 58 IS - 547 AU - Mike Fitzpatrick Y1 - 2008/02/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/58/547/135.abstract N2 - One of the many areas of clinical practice in which GPs are accused of failing to keep up with modern methods is in the management of allergies. It seems that every couple of years some elite medical body documents the woeful state of standards in primary care and insists on the urgent need for more training for GPs as well as demanding the provision of more specialist services.So when patients ask for a referral for skin tests or other forms of expert investigation and treatment, I duly oblige. It is always something of an anticlimax when they return with a recommendation for a prescription for some combination of an antihistamine, a steroid cream, inhaler or nasal spray, and sodium cromoglycate eye drops. I used to … ER -