Dermatology

1.56 Dermatology services diagnose and treat diseases of the skin, hair, and nails in children, young people, and adults. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, they have mainly been provided at Prince Philip, with a weekly outpatient clinic at Glangwili. In the community, nurse-led clinics are run from Cardigan Integrated Care Centre (CICC) and South Pembrokeshire Hospital. No dermatology services are currently provided at Bronglais or Withybush. 

1.57 The service faces several ongoing challenges, including: 

• an increase in referrals since the pandemic, especially urgent suspected cancer referrals, affecting waiting times for new and existing patients with non-urgent conditions. 
• a national shortage of consultant dermatologists – the Health Board has not had a permanent consultant dermatologist since 2016. 
• a high turnover rate of doctors, leading to appointment cancellations and longer patient waiting times. 

1.58 Hywel Dda outlined four different options for how dermatology services could be delivered, as set out in Table 2. In each option, Hywel Dda is proposing a permanent change to bring the service together at Prince Philip. This change aims to improve the service, retain and recruit staff, and attract consultant dermatologists to Hywel Dda. 

Table 2: Consultation options – dermatology