A new national allergy advice platform - allergy assist™
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What is allergy assist™?
allergy assist™ is an online platform to provide free specialist advice and support for the diagnosis, management and treatment of allergic conditions. It is based on Tele-Derm, a successful platform provided by the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) for the past 20 years.
The platform provides an asynchronous discussion/chat via a secure web application where the user (rural general practitioners and rural generalists) can submit a de-identified case, and a clinical immunology/allergy specialist panel member will respond to that case within 48 hours. The panel comprises two adult and two paediatric clinical immunology/allergy specialists.
The clinical immunology/allergy specialist does not take an official referral or have access to patient medical records or any identifiable patient information.
Users can search a clinical index for similar cases or submit a new de-identified patient case including photos. Users will also have access to allergy education cases, mini modules, webinars, resources and quizzes on the platform. allergy assist™ users can earn CPD hours for participating in the educational content.
Who is allergy assist™ for?
The pilot of allergy assist™ will be available to ACRRM members who are predominantly general practitioners (GPs) and Rural Generalists working outside of major cities. The online platform will be hosted on the ACRRM online learning management system and accessible to all ACRRM members. Rural doctors who are not ACRRM members can also apply for access.
Rural doctors can apply to access the allergy assist™ platform through the ACRRM website.
When will the allergy assist™ pilot run?
allergy assist™ will initially be available as a 12-month pilot from February 2025 to February 2026.
What are we hoping to achieve?
- Provide doctors working in regional, rural and remote locations in Australia direct access to expert advice and support when managing and treating patients with allergic conditions.
- Support timely access to specialist advice to help rural doctors to manage patients in environments where access to allergy services is limited and ensure patients receive the right care or, when necessary, an appropriate and high quality referral.
- Increase doctor confidence and competence in the diagnosis, management and treatment of allergic conditions.
- Provide doctors with access to evidence-based, best practice education and resources on allergic conditions.
- Support patients through faster diagnosis and treatment of their allergic conditions through timely advice, better care locally and appropriate referrals.
How will allergy assist™ improve care?
- Improved patient satisfaction, with patients receiving timely and accurate diagnosis and management.
- Reduced healthcare inequities with greater access to high quality care for patients in regional and remote areas.
- Upskilled workforce where doctors in rural areas will become more confident and capable in allergy care.
- Local management of cases reduces strain on specialists and tertiary care facilities and resources.
How will we measure the impact of allergy assist™?
The evaluation of the allergy assist™ platform will assess the platform’s usability, effectiveness, and impact. This includes quantitative monitoring of platform usage and a user survey via Qualtrics.
Approval to conduct this research has been provided by the University of Western Australia, in accordance with its ethics review and approval procedures. Ethics approval number 2025/ET000027.
Download the Participant Information Form.
allergy assist™ is based on the success of ACRRM’s Tele-Derm platform
Tele-Derm was established in 2004 by ACRRM with support from the Australian Government and is a free online dermatology advice and support service for ACRRM members and doctors in Modified Monash Model areas MM3 to MM7. The Modified Monash Model (MMM) defines whether a location is rural, remote or very remote, with MM7 being the most remote.
Tele-Derm currently has 5,000 doctors registered, who are mostly GPs and Rural Generalists who work in GP practices and local hospitals.
Tele-Derm employs dermatologists and a plastic surgeon to provide advice on 400-500 cases per year and has >1,000 education cases and skills development resources available on the platform for members to access. All Tele-Derm users can earn CPD hours for participating in the educational content.
Tele-Derm has been proven to increase rural doctor competence in diagnosis and treatment.
Tele-Derm research and evaluation
- Tele-Derm National: Ten years of store-and-forward teledermatology for rural and remote Australia. International Society of teledermatology. 12 Oct 2017
- Tele-Derm National: Integrating Australian teledermatology with ongoing clinical education. Journal of American Academy of Dermatology, May 01 2016
- Teledermatology - A proposed Model for the Australian Defence Force. Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health (JMVH) Volume 24 No. 4
- Telehealth: the specialist perspective. Australian Family Physician. 2014 Dec
- Tele-Derm National: A decade of teledermatology in rural and remote Australia. The Australian Journal of Rural health. 18 Dec 2015
Stay informed
To stay informed about future consultation opportunities and find out how we are progressing:
Follow the National Allergy Council on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram).
Subscribe to the Shared Care for Allergy Bulletin
Helpful information
Principles of shared care for allergy462.29 KB
Shared care for allergy project overview523.73 KB
Shared care for allergy glossary584.89 KB
If you have an enquiry about the project please email
Content created February 2025