Dermatology clinicians working together to enhance patient experience across the community
UHDB’s Dermatology team has been commended for working with GPs across Derbyshire to help patients with potential skin conditions to be assessed by a specialist sooner.
The Consultant Connect service allows our Dermatology consultants to offer clinical advice to GPs remotely on whether there is a need for their patient to be seen by a specialist in our hospitals.
Clinicians are able to share clinical photos and guidance, so as to help provide a quicker diagnosis, should a specialist’s opinion be needed – with our consultants receiving around 1,200 dermatology requests through the app since April 2020.
Of these cases, a massive 45% of cases referred through this service resulted in treatment advice being given by our staff to GP colleagues over Consultant Connect, without the need for the patient to then be seen in hospital. This has helped enhance patient experience by providing them with a treatment plan for their condition sooner.
It has also provided a huge benefit to GPs in the area too as it has enabled them to receive guidance from a specialist within at least 72 hours of first seeing the patient, although the average waiting time for the Derbyshire area is actually much lower than that at just six hours!
This fantastic buy in from the Dermatology teams at both UHDB and Chesterfield Royal Hospital has now resulted in Derby and Derbyshire’s CCG, Joined Up Care Derbyshire, being commended by Consultant Connect for providing the service’s ‘Best Response to Covid-19’.
Dr Tanya Bleiker, Consultant Dermatologist at UHDB, said: “The Dermatology department and the CCG had been working for some time towards providing an Advice and Guidance service to support GPs in managing adult patients with skin disease and the pandemic actually sped up this process with full roll out across the whole of Derbyshire in April 2020. The uptake by GPs was so positive we then extended the service to include paediatric Dermatology.
“Engaging with Consultant Connect benefits both the GPs and, most importantly, the patients by allowing them to get a diagnosis and treatment plan sooner.
“The Dermatology team have been providing this service to the community on top of their normal activity, and I would like to say a huge thank you to all of my colleagues for taking the time to provide this valuable service and make it a success. We are absolutely delighted to see that all of our hard work has been recognised and celebrated in this way, whilst also making a difference to our patients.”
Jonathan Patrick, CEO of Consultant Connect, added: “We have been so impressed by the uptake of our Photo Advice & Guidance service in Derbyshire. Congratulations go to the lead consultant at UHDB, Tanya Bleiker, and her team, and Karolina Nemeth at Chesterfield Royal, together with everyone else involved, for driving this forward.”