The program bridges the gap between GPs and allergy specialists to get patients diagnosed and treated sooner.
A national allergy advice platform that began as a lifeline for rural and remote doctors has been extended to all GPs across Australia, providing direct, timely and secure access to allergy specialists.
The free allergy assist platform was developed by the National Allergy Council (NAC) and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM). It allows GPs and generalists to lodge de-identified patient cases detailing history and symptoms. A clinical immunology and allergy specialist reviews each submission and responds within 48 hours, supporting local management wherever possible and recommending referral only when necessary.
Since going live in February 2025, the platform has drawn strong interest, with 646 doctors registering and nearly 90% practising in regional, rural or remote communities. A series of webinars on common primary-care allergy presentations have also attracted high engagement, with participants reporting practical value and calling for more sessions.
allergy assist forms part of the NAC’s Shared Care for Allergy Program, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. The initiative aims to strengthen GP capability in diagnosing and managing a wide range of allergic conditions, including food, drug and insect allergies, allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma and eczema.
NAC CEO Sandra Vale said the program had already proven its efficacy in connecting fragmented care pathways.
“We know a large and increasing number of Australians live with allergic disease, many chronic, and access to care can be difficult with long waiting times,” she said.
“Through the Shared Care for Allergy Program we are supporting healthcare professionals to work effectively together to provide timely, evidence-based care to patients with allergic diseases.”
Ms Vale told Allergy & Respiratory Republic that expanding the program to all GPs would increase access to care for patients and also support GPs in diagnosing and managing allergic conditions, as well as helping to understand when referral was needed.
“While we’ve primarily wanted to provide that support to doctors in outside of the metropolitan areas, we are aware that there are doctors within the metropolitan areas that also need that support,” she said.
“While it might be easier perhaps, for a metropolitan doctor to just refer someone because the travel distance for the patient is not as great, it still ends up with a delay in diagnosis.
“So this provides the potential for the patient to be provided by their regular doctor, local to them and potentially reduces that waiting time to see specialists.”
Ms Vale said the closed and secure platform, which did not allow access to the general public, as well as the education offerings had been well received.
“Or webinars are a massive drawcard to o the platform,” she told ARR.
“The specialist that’s presenting does present a topic, but then there is the open discussion at the end.
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“It also gives general practitioners the opportunity to get to know those specialists as well through those webinars and conversations, and therefore, hopefully makes them feel more comfortable to put a case forward on the platform and get support,”
It had also proven effective in helping GPs to have the confidence to manage allergic conditions when there was no need to refer.
“A lot of patients with allergic rhinitis, particularly can be managed by the GP,” she noted.
“If they need to have something like immunotherapy for their allergic rhinitis triggers, then yes, they should be referred to a specialist, but that first diagnosis and an initial treatment to see whether the patient actually can be effectively managed with treatment can be done by a GP.”
Four allergy specialists make up the expert panel for allergy assist – two of them specifically paediatric-trained and two are adult trained.
“We have had a lot of cases put forward that are related to adults. So it’s not just about the children,” Ms Vale said.
“A lot of people, particularly for food allergy, think it’s only about children. It’s not. There is a lot of adults in Australia with adult-onset food allergy and other adult-onset allergies, and that’s in some cases, even harder because they’ve lived a big portion of their life not being allergic to something, and then all of a sudden they are.”
NAC director and paediatric allergy specialist Dr Melanie Wong said expanding the platform would test how well the model scales nationally.
“This phase will show how a shared-care approach can work at scale,” she said.
“By connecting GPs directly with allergy specialists, allergy assist® builds capability, promotes earlier intervention and ensures patients receive the right care at the right time, in the right place.”
NAC Director Maria Said AM, who also leads Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, said the expanded rollout reflected the growing need for accurate clinical guidance in both metropolitan and regional practices.
She said early, consistent advice from specialists enables GPs to manage more allergic disease in primary care and streamline referrals.
“Early access to accurate, consistent advice makes all the difference in managing allergic disease,” she said.
“For many families, that starts with their GP. The allergy assist® initiative gives doctors the support and specialist input they need to manage more cases in primary care and refer only when clinically necessary.”
The initiative builds on ACRRM’s long-running Tele-Derm service, which has supported more than 5000 rural doctors with dermatology advice over the past 20 years.
ACRRM President Dr Rod Martin welcomed the expansion.
“The allergy assist initiative uses the same shared-care approach that has proven so effective through Tele-Derm,” said Dr Martin.
“It strengthens GP capability, supports better clinical decisions and helps reduce unnecessary referrals.”
The expanded pilot will run until February 2026, with the University of Western Australia evaluating its scalability and impact on allergy care in general practice.
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