Patients in Dumfries and Galloway are joining those in Greater Glasgow and Clyde in being the first to benefit from a new Digital Dermatology pathway.
The Teledermatology innovation is designed to help give faster diagnosis and assessment of skin conditions and, following the initial roll-out in the region, the aim is for it then to be deployed nationally by next spring.
It has already begun at the Annan’s Greencroft and Dumfries’ Gillbrae medical practices and will be rolled out across the remaining practices within NHS Dumfries & Galloway from the end of the month.
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “The national adoption of innovations, such as the Digital Dermatology pathway, will be critical to delivering our vision of a Scotland where people live longer, healthy and fulfilling lives.
“This is an important first step to rolling out a new service which has the potential to significantly reduce waiting times and improve patient outcomes in a speciality that we know is one of the busiest with demand for outpatient appointments.”
It will involve primary care clinicians making use of phone cameras and a secure mobile phone app to easily, and safely, take images of a patient’s skin condition at the point of referral to dermatology.
These images are then securely stored centrally on the National Digital Platform for Health and Social Care before being attached to their GP referral on the national SCI Gateway referral system. No images are stored on the device itself.
The use of digital images as part of the referral allows senior dermatology decision-makers to triage, diagnose and assess skin conditions without the patient being physically present.
Experts said it has the potential to significantly speed up diagnosis and improve waiting times, and ensures that the most urgent cases can be prioritised.
It would also provide quicker reassurance and advice for those who do not require a face-to-face appointment.
Following triage, the patient may be offered a face-to-face outpatient clinic appointment; directed to a more suitable service or be discharged from the dermatology service with advice on how to manage their skin concern.
Patients will still have the choice of whether or not to include an image. If they choose not to then the referral will be processed in the usual way.
The national pathway is backed by £1.8 million of funding from the Scottish Government’s chief scientist office and is one of the first innovations to be approved for national rollout through the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption Pathway.