The effects of a public education campaign for early diagnosis of malignant melanoma on workload and outcome—the Leicester experience

Pigmented lesion clinics - are they a waste of resources?

“…42,43 Within this increase, a very large proportion has been shown to be due to skin cancer and pigmented lesions, and that this increase coincides with national campaigns. 27,29,44,45 Referral patterns and work loads have also been shown to increase when educational initiatives have been directed towards general practitioners, and the consultant dermatologist has a vital but time-consuming role as a teacher to help his/her colleagues from all specialities to use their limited resources more effectively, and to avoid flooding clinics with large numbers of benign lesions. 22,46,47 Currently 15% of general practice-based consultations are for skin disease, such that any health care strategy which focuses solely on the relationship between primary and secondary care is doomed to failure unless it considers the enormous and unstable burden of people with unmet dermatological needs.…”