Dermatology services must change to improve patient care

… first conference dedicated to dermatology takes place at Royal College of Physicians …

Clinicians with experience in dermatology must be available in every primary care environment to assess patients with skin disease and treat or refer appropriately - as with asthma and diabetes - according to experts speaking this week at the first Action on Dermatology Conference at The Royal College of Physicians, London on 26 April 2004 .

  Peter Lapsley, Chief Executive, Skin Care Campaign, explains: “There is a clear precedent with primary care clinics for asthma and diabetes, but skin disease is rarely seen as life threatening and dermatology is therefore often dismissed as unimportant.

“Many skin conditions are chronic, causing acute distress-both physical and psychological. It is time that skin patients had access to quality dermatological care and information. If skin clinics were available far more people with skin diseases, especially inflammatory skin diseases such as acne,eczema and psoriasis, could be enabled to self manage their conditions, but that requires proper training and funding, both of which we are currently tackling,” concludes Lapsley

Around one third of the UK population is affected by a skin condition, with skin diseases accounting for a least 15 percent of a GPs caseload. Despite these figures, dermatology is not a compulsory part of GP and nurse training and, on average, GPs undertake less than six days dermatology training during their entire undergraduate and post graduate medical training.

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At the Conference, delegates called for education and accreditation for specialist GPs and nurses to help provide a better service for patients and to manage more effectively the referral rate. In addition it is crucial that recruitment and retention is improved by developing staff and providing better opportunities.