Integrated Community Dermatology Triage and Treat Service

Tender description

The service will reduce unnecessary referrals to acute dermatology service, reducing patient anxiety and increase patient choice. The aim is to offer a more economically viable service that address the capacity gap in the health system, with a greater number of patients managed within the primary care or community setting with the lowest number of appointments that are clinically safe. The service would triage patients to confirm the risk of disease and appropriate treatment plan and where possible treat patients in one visit. Additional aims include: • Delivery of a high quality dermatology service in a community care setting • To provide a range of additional, innovative extra benefits for patients and practitioners, e.g. online consultations with GPs, tele-dermatology, patient initiated follow ups and virtual clinics • Improve patient access to dermatology care and treatment across Coventry and Warwickshire at a place-based level. • Manage demand in primary care, and only onward refer patients to acute settings that cannot be managed by a community provider • Improve patient choice and enhance the patient experience • Contribute to the achievement of the 18 week referral to treatment targets by reducing waiting times in secondary care and more accurately matching need to professional competence where dermatology episodes occur • Stop all inappropriate referrals into secondary care • Reduce first and follow-up outpatient attendances • Improve the patient management of long term skin disease • Promote the development of specialisation in primary care • Work collaboratively with secondary care providers of dermatology services.