A national alliance of health charities today criticised the Government claiming it is ''ignoring'' urgent calls to improve health care for allergy sufferers in the North-East.

In November the Health Select Committee produced a damning report on the provision of allergy care services within the NHS which found skills were ''lacking'' and called for a series of specialist clinics to be established across the country.

However, the Government has responded to the report by only pledging to commission a review, angering national charity the Allergy Alliance. The authors of the initial report, called Allergy - the Unmet Need, said: ''It is clear that there is a large and growing gap between the need for allergy services and the appropriate care within the NHS.

''We believe that primary care should be the front line provider of allergy care, but the skill base to build this service is lacking.

''It is imperative that specialist clinics should be developed across the country and a minimum off one specialist allergy centre should be established in each NHS region.

''We believe that a start on this work must be made now.''

The report found that there were no specific allergy services in England north of Manchester or west of Bournemouth and said that to stem the tide the NHS must immediately appoint 20 new allergy doctors and then a further 20 between 2006 and 2009.

In response the report the Government has now said: ''The Government welcomes the committee's report as a valuable opportunity to consider the future direction and scope of services and will therefore commission a review of the available data and research on the epidemiology of allergic conditions, the demand for and provision of treatment and the effectiveness of relevant interventions.''

The response has outraged the Allergy Alliance, which claimed the Government's actions amounted to nothing.

A spokesperson for the charity said: ''All calls for urgent action are to be ignored and the problem, along with the millions of allergy sufferers who can get no help from the NHS, are to be swept under the carpet of yet another expensive and unnecessary report.

''We do not need more reports. Evidence abounds of the desperate need for more allergy services. What we need is action - the actions called for in the Health Committee's Report.''