Allergy, intolerance, hives and immune-related symptoms.
Assessed and treated by a GMC-registered GP
Prescriptions, sick notes and referral letters included
A written treatment plan after every appointment
Your NHS records in the room, with your consent
Every condition below has its own page covering symptoms, causes, how it is diagnosed, whether it can be treated online, and when to seek urgent help.
Care led personally by Dr Khan
Attentive, unhurried care that listens properly
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Registered with the Care Quality Commission
Allergy testing is only useful when guided by history. Testing a broad panel in someone with no suggestive pattern produces false positives, unnecessary dietary restriction and no benefit.
Anyone with a history of anaphylaxis needs specialist immunology assessment rather than blood testing alone.
Allergy testing is only useful when guided by history. Testing a broad panel in someone with no suggestive pattern produces false positives, unnecessary dietary restriction and no benefit whatsoever — and it is one of the commonest ways people are sold something useless.
The history is the diagnosis. Testing confirms it; it does not find it.
Order broad allergy panels in people with no suggestive history, and we will not order IgG "food intolerance" testing at all. It has no scientific validity, and the usual outcome is an expensive list of foods to avoid for no benefit — sometimes with real nutritional cost.
Use an adrenaline auto-injector immediately if you have one, into the outer thigh, and call 999 even if it works. Lie flat with legs raised, and do not stand up — standing during anaphylaxis is genuinely dangerous. A second dose after five minutes if there is no improvement, which is why two devices should be carried.
If you have not combined an antihistamine with a properly used nasal steroid, that is the first thing to try — and it costs a few pounds.
Immunotherapy — desensitisation with tablets or injections over about three years — is the only treatment that modifies the allergy rather than suppressing symptoms. Available on the NHS through allergy clinics for severe hay fever not controlled by everything else, and worth asking about if every summer is a write-off.
Carry two, always, and check the expiry dates. Register with the manufacturer's expiry alert service, which is free. Make sure the people around you know where it is and how to use it — and use it early rather than waiting to be sure.
IgG food intolerance tests — no validity, and they lead to unnecessary restriction. Hair analysis, kinesiology and "bioresonance" allergy testing, none of which has any basis. Elimination diets started before coeliac testing, which can cost you the diagnosis. And expensive air purifiers, whose evidence does not approach that of a nasal steroid.
Only where the result would change something. Symptoms every May and June do not need a test to identify grass pollen.
Testing without a suggestive history produces false positives — people are commonly "positive" to foods they eat without any problem, and acting on that causes unnecessary restriction and anxiety.
Year-round symptoms are worth testing, where identifying dust mite or a pet genuinely changes the plan.
No. IgG food intolerance testing has no scientific validity, and neither do hair analysis, kinesiology or "bioresonance" testing.
The usual outcome is an expensive list of foods to avoid, for no benefit and sometimes with real nutritional cost.
Allergy is an immune reaction — rapid, reproducible, and potentially involving hives, swelling or breathing difficulty.
Intolerance is not immune — typically digestive, dose-dependent, unpleasant but not dangerous. Lactose intolerance is the classic example.
The distinction matters, because one can be life-threatening and the other cannot.
Anything involving breathing or circulation. Swelling of lips, tongue or throat; difficulty breathing or wheeze; a hoarse voice; feeling faint or collapsing.
Adrenaline into the outer thigh immediately, then 999 — even if it works. Lie flat with legs raised and do not stand up, which is genuinely dangerous during anaphylaxis. Second dose after five minutes if no improvement, which is why two devices should be carried.
Not as a first issue. That requires specialist assessment and proper training in when and how to use it — and anyone who has had anaphylaxis needs allergy clinic assessment rather than a device alone.
Worth having formally assessed — and this is more important than it sounds.
A great many people carrying a penicillin allergy label turn out not to be allergic when properly tested. The label narrows treatment options for life, leads to broader-spectrum antibiotics, and is associated with worse outcomes.
Allergy clinics can test this, and removing an incorrect label is genuinely valuable.
Not before being tested for coeliac disease. The test becomes unreliable once you have stopped eating gluten, and people lose the diagnosis this way — which matters, because coeliac disease has consequences well beyond symptoms.
Test first, then experiment.
That is the usual outcome, and it is not a failure of investigation. Most chronic hives are not caused by an allergy at all, and extensive testing rarely finds anything.
Chronic hives lasting more than six weeks respond well to antihistamines at higher-than-standard doses, and to specialist treatment where they do not — and "no cause found" is a normal and treatable situation rather than a dead end.
Frequently, yes. Milk and egg allergies are commonly outgrown; peanut, tree nut and shellfish allergies are more likely to persist.
What matters is not avoiding foods unnecessarily. Restricting a child's diet without proper allergy assessment causes nutritional harm and can paradoxically cause genuine allergy to develop.
Immunotherapy comes closest — desensitisation over about three years, which modifies the underlying allergy rather than suppressing symptoms.
Available on the NHS through allergy clinics for severe hay fever that everything else has failed to control.
Clinically reviewed by Dr Mohammad Zubair Khan, GMC 7563469
Last reviewed
August 29, 2026
On this page
Ongoing
Time to be seen
Appointment length
Your NHS record in the room
Written treatment plan
Told when a test isn’t needed
Cost
Same day, usually
20 minutes
Yes, with your consent
Included
Yes, and told why
£40 for 20 minutes
Varies by practice
Typically 10 minutes
Yes, your full record
Not routinely
Usually
Free
Same day
Often 10 to 15 minutes
Usually not
Sometimes charged
Varies by provider
Often a subscription
Same-day access is usually available, from 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. You choose a time that suits you rather than waiting on hold at 8am.
Yes. Care is led personally by Dr Mohammad Khan, so you are not passed between clinicians. Continuity is the point of a small practice: someone who knows your history and is listening attentively rather than working through a checklist.
Yes, with your consent. We can access your Summary Care Record during the consultation, so your current medications, allergies and significant history are in the room. That means fewer questions you have already answered elsewhere, and safer prescribing.
No. We are not here to replace GPs, only to support them. Your NHS practice remains responsible for your ongoing care, and with your consent we write to them after the consultation. We are useful when you need to be seen sooner, or want more time than a standard appointment allows.
Twenty unhurried minutes and a comprehensive assessment. A written treatment plan is included, along with any prescription, sick note or referral letter arising from the consultation, at no extra charge.
£40 for 20 minutes, self-pay. Membership is optional and never required. Priced for fairness, because we are not here to charge extortionate amounts for access to a doctor.
It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
Yes, where there is a genuine bacterial infection — cellulitis, impetigo, bacterial urine infections, confirmed strep throat. We will also frequently tell you that you do not need one. Most sore throats, coughs, colds and earaches are viral, and an antibiotic gives you the side effects with none of the benefit.
If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
Call 999 or go to A&E — do not book an online appointment and do not wait for a reply to an email. For urgent problems that are not emergencies, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, online or by phone, and can direct you to the right service.
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