A nurse has called for an allergy clinic which closed earlier this month to be reopened.

John Collard wants the clinic to be taken over by the NHS and to fund training for a specialist consultant.

Mr Collard, clinical nurse specialist at Steeton-based Airedale Allergy Clinic, says as the number of people suffering from allergies continues to grow, there is a need for the in-patient service.

Keighley MP Ann Cryer has written to Health Secretary Frank Dobson urging him to investigate the closure of the five-bed private clinic.

It was opened in the early 1980s by Dr Jonathan Maberly who is continuing to treat out-patients, who form the bulk of his clients. The clinic dealt with about 40 in-patients a year.

It closed on May 2 following changes in NHS funding after the ending of the internal marketing system and because Dr Maberly was preparing to retire.

"Even if we found the funding tomorrow Dr Maberly would not be prepared to go back to full-time work without the prospect of someone taking over," says Mr Collard.

He says there is a shortage of consultants in the field and Dr Maberly has been trying for a couple of years to get someone to take over his role. He says if the building is not taken over it will be sold.

He stresses that Dr Maberly is continuing to see the vast majority of his patients as out-patients and it is only the in-patient unit which has closed

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