System actions to consider 9 Improvement targets: NHS England should consider ensuring Integrated Care Systems have a robust assessment of the numbers and needs of patients living with inflammatory skin conditions in their area to tailor care in their best interests and set improvement targets and incentives to improve outcomes, where necessary. 10 Guidelines: NICE should consider developing and publishing national guidelines and accompanying quality standards for the management of eczema in adults and adolescents. Integrated Care Systems in England should then be required to establish commissioning policies on atopic eczema. 11 Training: Increasing access to dermatology training and education for undergraduate curriculums and for existing GPs should be considered. NHS England’s new iterative approach to workforce planning should consider how GP vocational training in dermatology can be expanded. This could include developing primary care providers’ dermatology knowledge through GP and nursing involvement in dermatology Primary Care Network (PCN) clinics, supported by national PCN guidance agreed between NHS England and the British Medical Association, and through the rollout of advice and guidance. In addition, in line with GIRFT’s recommendations, undergraduate dermatology training for pharmacists should be updated so that community pharmacists are able to manage common skin conditions in line with current evidence-based dermatology national guidelines. 12 Workforce planning: Integrated Care Systems and partner trusts, as part of their five-year joint forward workforce plans, should consider setting out how they tend to address workforce shortages in dermatology, and how the existing workforce can be used differently to tackle long waits in access to care and treatment for patients with long-term skin conditions. In line with the GIRFT review, this should include optimising the training and functions of the whole dermatology multidisciplinary team to deliver better care. 13 Strategic prioritisation and policy: The Department of Health and Social Care should consider keeping its Major Conditions Strategy under review and ensure that services like dermatology, that place a significant burden on the system, are also prioritised in national policy. This could include incorporating the considerations noted above. This could avoid the unintended consequence of a two-tier system developing where care and outcomes are improved for only specific groups of patients currently prioritised under the existing strategy. Similarly, all Integrated Care Systems should consider having a strategic aim to improve overall dermatology care.
AbbVie is committed to working with NHS partners in the dermatology community on a national and local level to support progress, in line with the considerations set out in this paper.
Further information For further information, please contact Malcolm Evans, Senior Government Affairs, Immunology, AbbVie, at malcolm.evans@abbvie.com .
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FROM NATIONAL GUIDANCE TO LOCAL ACTION
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