Digitise the tele-triage service for dermatology
My Topol fellowship problem / project:
Having been a consultant now for 21 years I was looking for a new project to take on. I feel passionate about using digital technology to improve GP and patient access to our service along with improving user experience at the hospital end including streamlining and simplifying the booking system for patients coming to dermatology.
We have already started to pilot a tele-triage system for GPs to ask advice about their patients (with pictures included) – at which point we can either advise or convert the advice to a referral.
This means that some conditions can be managed by the GP without the need for a hospital visits leaving those for only the patients who really need to come in.
Hopefully this will shorten waiting lists and the advice given to GPs will help educate them in dermatology so that more patients can be managed closer to home by themselves.
About me
I am a Consultant in dermatology at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Trust whose day to day work involves seeing outpatients with a variety of general dermatological problems and skin cancer, performing skin surgery and seeing ward referrals.
I studied medicine at Sheffield University and then later did my dermatology training in Birmingham before taking up a consultant post in Rotherham where I stayed for 17 years.
I moved briefly to work at Derby Royal hospital before settling in Chesterfield. My particular interests are skin cancer, skin surgery and laser.