Miserable summers could soon be at an end for some hayfever sufferers.

Allergy experts at Leicester's hospitals are campaigning for a new treatment for the condition to be made available on the NHS.

They want to be able to give a drug called Grazax to some of their most badly affected patients.

Grazax costs about £700 a year, and needs to be taken for three years to be fully effective, but doctors say it could mean huge relief for some of their worst-hit patients.

At the moment, the drug is licensed and has recently been given the go-ahead for use in children over the age of six.

However, it is not routinely available on the NHS, although it can be prescribed privately if people are prepared to pay for it.

The treatment, which comprises a tablet which has to be taken every day over the three years, only works for people with a grass allergy.

Dr Alex Croom, a consultant allergist at Glenfield Hospital, said she has about 30 patients who might benefit if they could have the new drug, but she believes they represent the tip of an iceberg.

She said: "We see so many people who have suffered with hayfever for years because their condition is not taken seriously.

"They can suffer uncontrollable sneezing, itching eyes and throats, and some even wheeze.

"For many, their sleep is disturbed so they start the day off at less than 100 per cent.

"A lot of children's exams are ruined because of hayfever.

"Grazax is a very new drug but its potential has been building up, which is why we think we should be able to prescribe it.

"It is a three-year course of treatment and at the end still protects patients when they have stopped taking it."

If the plans are agreed, sufferers will have to be referred to allergy experts at Glenfield Hospital by the end of the year.

Tests will be carried out to make sure their allergy is to grass and, if the treatment is thought appropriate, they will have to begin the first course towards the end of January, before pollen levels start to build.

Hay fever sufferer James Caunt got so fed up with spending summer indoors he decided to spend about £100 a month paying privately for the drug.

Ever since his childhood, the 41-year-old from Nether Broughton, near Melton, has dreaded summer and the misery of trying to cope with his allergy to grass pollen.

He has been taking Grazax for two years and said: "The first year, it was fantastic but last year I did have to go and buy extra remedies for hay fever.

"I am waiting to see what happens this year. If Grazax works, I would support it being available on the NHS."