NORTH-EAST children with dangerous allergies are denied proper care because the nearest full-time clinic is in Leicester, MPs have warned.

Their report condemns ignorance about allergies in the NHS, despite one in 50 children being at risk of fatal anaphylactic shock if they eat nuts.

One expert's evidence to the Commons health select committee warned that parents were being forced into the hands of dangerous, and unchecked, alternative practitioners.

London consultant Dr Gideon Lack said: "The situation is analogous to the days when young pregnant women were forced into the hands of back-street abortion clinics."

Allergies affect about 30 per cent of adults and 40 per cent of children, with the number and severity of conditions rising rapidly.

Yet, according to the Royal College of Practitioners, there are only six full-time clinics treating allergies in Britain, of which three are in London and the closest in Leicester.

There are three part-time clinics in Manchester and Liverpool, but the only options in the North East are three part-time services from consultants in different specialities.