One in four people in England and Wales see their GP about a dermatology condition every year. In Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, community care provider Sirona care and health has been trialling novel technology to successfully reduce wait times.
Using Isla, a digital pathway platform Sirona’s Dermatology team has been able to offer patients remote consultations with specialist nurses and GPs, to provide earlier advice and intervention around eczema, psoriasis and other dermatological conditions.
This has resulted in a reduction in wait times and patients say they have found this hugely beneficial, rather than having to wait a long time for a face-to-face appointment.
Valerie Anderson, Clinical Lead for Dermatology at Sirona said “One of the positive outcomes from this is a reduction in GP wait times from 35 weeks to 22 weeks, and our specialist nurse wait time has reduced from 26 weeks to 12 weeks”.
Peter Hansell, CEO and Co-founder at Isla Health added “Dermatology is one of the most stretched specialties across the country, resulting in long waits for patients. What Sirona has achieved with Isla shows what’s possible when we move to efficient digital pathways. The remarkable results have improved care for patients and freed up valuable clinical time. Congratulations to the Sirona team, now we need to take these pockets of success, learn from them, and scale them across the system.”
