Sir, – Further to "Does your dermatologist have the right qualifications?" (Health + Family, June 2nd), dermatology makes up around 15-20 per cent of a general practitioner's workload. A lot of these patients do not need the input of a consultant dermatologist. The public waiting times for dermatology can be between one and two years and private consultations can be expensive.
It is difficult to portray accurately the huge burden of skin disease that exists within the community and this will rise with our ageing population. If general practitioners were to refer all their patients with a skin problem to see a dermatologist, the system would simply be overwhelmed.
It is surely in everybody’s interest that general practitioners look after as many of the straightforward problems in dermatology as possible and refer on the rarer and more severe problems to dermatologists. Additional training and education facilitate this process.
It is for these reasons that general practitioners might seek further training in dermatology and develop a special interest in this subject, as occurs in similar health systems, such as those of Britain and Australia.
The Primary Care Dermatology Society exists to support the postgraduate education in dermatology among general practitioners. We agree with the point in the article that doctors should not be falsely represented within the specialist register of the Medical Council. General practitioners do not seek to promote themselves as consultant dermatologists but that does not preclude us from developing a special interest in the subject because we feel it is in our patients’ best interest to treat common skin conditions in the community. – Yours, etc,
Dr FINBAR FITZPATRICK,,
Dr GEORGE ROBERTS,
Dr HILDA
FENNELL O’SHEA,
Dr BERNADETTE
O’LEARY,
Dr DAVID BUCKLEY,
Dr KAREN REIDY,
Primary Care
Dermatology Society
of Ireland,
c/o Abbey Medical Centre,
Kilrush Road,
Ennis,
Co Clare.