Adults in Sheffield with skin complaints will soon be able to receive treatment in community settings, rather than having to travel to the hospital, thanks to NHS Sheffield's planned changes to the city's dermatology services.

Specialist dermatology services are planned for three areas in Sheffield, one to cover the North of the city, one in the East/South-East and one in the West/ South-West. The services will offer patients appointments with specialists in Dermatology who can diagnose and treat skin conditions including eczema, psoriasis and skin lesions.

Healthcare professionals and organisations are currently being offered the opportunity to highlight to NHS Sheffield - the organization responsible for deciding how NHS money is spent in the city - why they feel they would be the best people to deliver the services.

The successful applicants will have to meet a number of criteria, including demonstrating good public transport links to the venue, good parking facilities, the ability to deliver at least 15% of the services outside of the hours of 9am - 5pm and the specialist facilities needed to meet infection control specifications. Services in the three areas may end up being run by one organisation, or by several, dependent on who will provide the best possible service for people in Sheffield. All organisations will be required to provide the service to the same level and will be required to co-operate with each other as well as the hospital and GPs.

In 2007, NHS Sheffield conducted a thorough consultation across the city called 'Achieving Balanced Health', the outcomes of which showed that members of the public overwhelmingly wanted as many services as possible close to their homes, rather than in hospital settings.

The resulting 'Achieving Balanced Health' strategy is all about driving forwards these changes, in this case bringing dermatology services out into the community (as has already been the case in other areas including Leeds and East Riding). GP's from Hallam and South PBC consortium with support from Clinicians from other PBC Consortia across Sheffield have been working with NHS Sheffield and with local Hospital Dermatologists to re-design Skin Services in the city. As a result NHS Sheffield undertook a further survey with dermatology patients, who said that they would like to receive treatment in the community.

The survey showed that of highest importance to them would be locations with good public transport (81% felt this was important or very important); good parking was second (70%); and patients felt that of least importance to them was knowing the person treating them (only 42% marked this as important or very important).

Clinical Lead for Hallam and South Consortium Dr Andy Hilton said : "We have worked closely with Dermatologists, Specialist nurses, GP's and patients to agree what conditions could be managed in a community setting. It has been imperative to reach this consensus to ensure a high quality service for patients, which GP's are willing to refer into, and which Dermatologists feel offers appropriate care at a high standard. With this new service model we feel we have achieved this"

Lead for improving dermatology services at NHS Sheffield, Kate Gleave said: "Between 17% and 29% of Sheffield people suffer from dermatological problems.

"This change will offer a multitude of improvements to the service these people receive, including making them closer to where people work and live, and potentially speeding up treatment - it's anticipated that patients will be seen and treated by the specialist in the same day.

"We're confident that we'll receive bids from a number of organisations, expressing a wish to deliver this community based service, enabling us to pick the providers that will offer the best possible care for people in the city."

It is anticipated that the community based service will be offered from Summer 2009.

The changes to the service will not affect how patients are managed within their GP surgeries, and they should continue to visit their GP with initial concerns about their skin. If appropriate the GP would then refer them. For some conditions, patients will still be referred to the hospital.

NHS Sheffield