New Zealanders struggle to get treatment for allergies

There are claims that people are still suffering unnecessarily from allergies because New Zealand lacks specialists and has insufficient training for GPs - despite a warning issued more than six years ago. Mark Dixon from the charity Allergy New Zealand says it drew attention to deficiencies in allergy care in 2008 but that sadly, the situation has changed little. He says the South Island in particular is poorly serviced with just one immunologist based in Christchurch. Wellington also has just one, while Auckland has about eight qualified specialists. One of those immunologists based in Auckland is Dr Andy Baker, who says every major hospital in the country should have a dedicated specialist.