The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has published the protocol for its newest health technology assessment (HTA), examining teledermatology to support the management of primary care referrals to dermatology services. The protocol describes the approach that HIQA will use to complete this assessment.

The demand for outpatient dermatology services in Ireland is rapidly increasing, driven by an ageing population, rising incidence of skin cancer, and improvements in the treatments and technologies available for the management of chronic skin conditions. The increase in demand has caused long waiting lists for dermatology services. 

The Health Service Executive (HSE) Model of Care for Dermatology aims to increase capacity among dermatologists to engage in effective triaging of referrals to secondary and or tertiary care. One approach to make this possible is teledermatology, and the HSE has requested HIQA conduct this HTA to examine the clinical effectiveness, safety and cost impacts of using teledermatology for adult and paediatric patients referred by a GP to a consultant dermatologist. Teledermatology is when a dermatologist uses photos or live video conferencing in addition to other clinical information to triage, diagnose, or monitor skin conditions, without the need for the patient to attend in person.

Dr Conor Teljeur, HIQA's Chief Scientist said: “With longer waiting lists, there is a need to think about strategies that can maximise access to specialist care services for everybody. Teledermatology is one such strategy, and has the potential to support both the timely delivery of care and manage the demand for specialist dermatology services.”

The assessment will examine a teledermatology-led referral management system. According to the system under review, a dermatologist would have access to images or videos in addition to the clinical referral letter to support an initial management decision. This might include referring the patient to an in-person consultation, directly booking them in for a required procedure, redirecting them to another speciality, or providing advice to their GP to manage the condition in the primary care setting. The new system could also support patient prioritisation for those for whom an in-person consultation or procedure is considered necessary.

The full Health Technology Assessment will be published in due course.

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For further information please contact:

Marty Whelan, Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement 085 805 5202 / mwhelan@hiqa.ie

Notes to the editor:

• The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published the following document: Protocol for the Health Technology Assessment of teledermatology to support the management of primary care referrals.
• This protocol presents the proposed methodology for assessing the provision of teledermatology to support the management of referrals from primary care to specialist dermatology services. The assessment will be conducted in line with the HIQA quality assurance framework for HTA.
• The National Clinical Programme for dermatology, a Model of Care for Ireland can be found here.