LabMed welcomes new UK-wide workforce report on clinical immunology and allergy

We are pleased to highlight the publication of the British Society for Immunology Clinical Immunology Professional Network’s (BSI-CIPN) comprehensive UK-wide workforce report – a document our Immunology Professional Committee (IPC) was pleased to review and endorse.

This important report provides a detailed and timely overview of the current state of clinical immunology and allergy services across the NHS. Its findings confirm what many colleagues within our membership already experience: services are under significant pressure, with staffing levels across all professions far below what is needed to meet demand safely and sustainably.

A workforce under strain

The report draws together national data across medical, nursing, scientific and support staff groups, highlighting significant variation and concerning gaps:

  • Severely stretched consultant capacity, including services in Scotland with only one consultant per 2.05 million people, and Wales with one per 1.06 million. Fifteen UK services are currently operating with only one or two consultants, leaving them extremely vulnerable if even one specialist leaves or becomes unwell.
  • Intense pressure on nursing provision, with ratios as high as one immunology nurse per 1.18 million people in Scotland and one per 446,478 in the Midlands.
  • Cross-border support becoming routine, with centres such as Manchester, Newcastle and London absorbing patients from neighbouring under-resourced regions to maintain access to specialist care.
  • Substantial clinical workload going unrecognised in traditional activity metrics. Essential advice, liaison work, long-term management and complex multidisciplinary input often fall outside standard reporting mechanisms, meaning true service needs remain underestimated in workforce planning.
  • Training and development capacity limited by the extremely low staffing numbers, reducing opportunities for registrars, scientists, nurses and early-career staff to gain essential experience.

National action is urgently needed

In response to these findings, the BSI-CIPN is calling for coordinated action across all four UK nations.

Key recommendations include:

  • Increasing training posts and consultant numbers to build a stable and sustainable workforce
  • Undertaking national-level service reviews across each UK nation to support long-term investment
  • Ensuring employers provide ringfenced time for training and supervision across medical, nursing, and scientific professions

These recommendations closely align with LabMed’s own strategic priorities, particularly around workforce sustainability, training pathways, and the strengthening of diagnostic services.

LabMed’s role and our continued commitment

LabMed’s IPC was pleased to contribute to this work through review and endorsement. Our multidisciplinary perspective—spanning clinical scientists, biomedical scientists, medical consultants and infection specialists—ensures that the realities of laboratory and diagnostic service delivery are represented in national discussions like this.

We strongly encourage our members to read the report and consider how the findings may support local and regional conversations about service resilience, investment, and future training needs.

You can access the full BSI-CIPN report here: https://www.immunology.org/clinical/bsi-cipn/bsi-cipn-workforce-report-moving-towards-workforce-equipped-future