By Duncan Boak, SmellTaste CEO and founder

I was invited to speak at ‘Towards Universal Chemosensory Testing’ in Philadelphia on 5-7 November.   This was the first scientific conference focused on the need for smell and taste testing to become routine, which is a key goal for SmellTaste in the UK.

The conference was attended predominantly by members of the US scientific community, in addition to public health and patient representatives.  The excellent presentations covered a range of topics, including why smell and tase testing is needed, some of the different chemosensory tests that have been developed and how they can aid diagnosis and treatment.  There was also a lot of discussion about the challenges involved in introducing smell and taste testing. The conference had an understandable focus on the US healthcare system, given its location and how it was funded.

I lost my sense of smell in 2005. When I went to see my GP about this I was told, with a shrug, that very little was known about the sense of smell and nothing could be done.  Suffice to say that a smell test didn’t come into the conversation; my doctor knew little and I knew even less.

It’s quite amazing to look back on this now, with the benefit of hindsight and the work I have done leading SmellTaste over the last 11 years.  My talk at the conference focused on the change that SmellTaste is driving here in the UK; we’re working with Cadent, the UK’s largest Gas Distribution Network, the Fire and Rescue Service, the NHS and our partners FlavorActiV to pilot simple smell screening tools in different settings.  Cadent and SmellTaste worked together to create a gas safety card which includes a ‘scratch and sniff’ panel on it that has methyl mercaptan embedded on it. This is the substance injected into natural gas to give it a smell.

Fire and Rescue Services in different parts of England are now using these cards when they do Home Safety Visits to help identify if someone in the house has a problem with their sense of smell. If someone can’t detect the smell of gas on the card, they’re unlikely to smell it if it’s leaking from their gas boiler. The Fire Service can then pass on steps that people can take to stay safe at home, and also information about SmellTaste, so people are able to contact us for support and information.

Safety at home is just one example of why smell testing is so important, however.  A growing body of research increasingly points to a link between smell impairment and increased risk of frailty in older adults, neurodegenerative disease and increased risk of mortality.   Regular testing of people’s sense of smell will enable a range of potential problems to be diagnosed sooner, with people being given support and information to aid their health, wellbeing and safety. It will also enable children with congenital anosmia to receive an early diagnosis so they and their parents can be given appropriate support and information, something that is currently lacking.

Here in the UK we are not starting from zero.  There are already at least 10 specialist smell and taste or rhinology clinics in England that are testing patients’ sense of smell, but we need more. We want to ensure that, in future, everyone in the UK has access to a specialist clinic where they can get a comprehensive smell test, with screening tests also undertaken in community health settings.

There are considerable challenges involved in making any major change in healthcare, and getting routine smell and taste testing to become a reality will have its fair share.  However I am determined that SmellTaste, working with our partners, will drive forward this much-needed change and I look forward to the day when getting one’s sense of smell and taste tested will be as easy as it now is for sight and hearing.

Duncan Boak
SmellTaste CEO and founder
November 2023

SmellTaste and ENT UK are delighted to announce a strategic partnership focused on improving care for people affected by smell and taste disorders. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has generated significant awareness of these under-recognised sensory impairments, whilst leaving large numbers of people with ongoing smell and taste dysfunction as a symptom of Long Covid. It has also highlighted the many challenges faced by all those living with impaired smell and taste, including the lack of routine testing and effective treatments. In addition, it has highlighted the need for better education for healthcare professionals and a significant increase in research to improve knowledge and understanding and accelerate the steps to new treatments.         

SmellTaste and ENT UK will work together to help address these issues, ensuring that ENT professionals give patients and their families the support they need, including signposting them to SmellTaste’s Support and Information Service. The two organisations will also work to improve education on smell and taste disorders for ENT professionals and trainees, and encourage ENT UK members to initiate new research projects that respond to the priorities established through the SmellTaste Smell and Taste Disorders Priority Setting Partnership. Another important goal will be to encourage more ENT clinics in the UK to offer routine smell testing as part of consultations. 

SmellTaste is also making a commitment to supporting the start-up of new ENT-led specialist smell and taste services, as the charity did with the Smell Disorders and Allergies Clinic at Royal Gloucestershire Hospital in 2022. 

‘SmellTaste has worked closely with ENT UK members since our inception and these relationships have been vital to ensuring that people with smell and taste disorders get better care’ said SmellTaste Chief Executive Duncan Boak. ‘This important partnership will facilitate closer working with ENT UK and its members and help us drive towards the changes that the people we represent are calling for.  I’m very pleased that ENT UK is making a commitment to working with SmellTaste to address the needs and challenges faced by people with smell and taste disorders and I am looking forward to us working together’.

Katie Nurcombe, ENT UK CEO said ‘ENT UK is delighted to be working with SmellTaste in order to promote education and training on this very important subject amongst patients and doctors. SmellTaste have identified a number of interesting and important research topics and we hope this collaboration will help initiate new research projects and identify funding opportunities.’