Consultant dermatologist says use of highly trained NHS multidisciplinary teams in private care will enable dermatology expansion at Wimpole Street clinic
A formalised workforce arrangement – that means highly trained NHS specialist multidisciplinary teams can also offer care to private patients – will pave the way for expanded dermatology treatments at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Specialist Care, a specialist dermatologist consultant has said.
The planned expansion comes after Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT), launched its private St John’s Dermatology specialist service at 79 Wimpole Street last summer.
The launch will begin expanding GSTT’s surgical and non-surgical expertise at its 150-year-old St John’s Dermatology Institute at Guy’s Hospital into the new clinic.
It has since been offering specialised frozen section Mohs micrographic surgery to private patients with facial basal cell carcinomas (BCC) and squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) – which was only previously available via its NHS service at Guy’s Hospital – the largest Mohs centre in the UK.
Now GSTT plans to bring a greater range of specialised skin cancer treatment to the Wimpole Street clinic based on a new workforce model which allows its full teams to work across both NHS and private patient lists, according to Dr Rakesh Patalay, consultant dermatologist and dermatology surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals.
Dr Patalay said the move to deploy its “highly trained specialist” teams at Wimpole Street means the clinic can guarantee an equivalent quality of surgery and post-surgical care at its new clinic.
“Our nursing teams are very highly trained and are integral to the success of several of our NHS services. We want to be able to offer an equivalent quality of services to our private patients who are keen to be seen more quickly than the NHS waiting list allows,” he said. “Until now, this has not been possible”.
The use of specialist teams across NHS and independent sector care has grown in other areas of oncology treatment in recent years, according to a 2024 report by the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, but this is the first time the approach has been used in dermatology, according to Dr Patalay.
“Currently, the waiting list to be seen for a skin cancer assessment with the NHS is up to a year, compared to about two months for private assessments and treatment”, he said, adding that all private patient profits are reinvested into the NHS clinic.
Waiting lists for treatment have increased due to greater skin cancer screening awareness and people are increasingly choosing self-pay options because they’re “not willing to wait,” said Dr Patalay.
“The two-week pathway for melanoma and squamous cell carcinomas is very good in the NHS, but the waiting list is much longer for other lesions and non-urgent skin cancers, such as basal cell carcinomas,” he added.
GSTT head of adult private patients Valerie Curran said demand for skin cancer care has increased significantly and “currently the NHS simply doesn’t have the capacity to meet it”.
This had led to “many patients seeking private treatment, and it’s important they have that option — especially as more people now have private medical insurance, a trend that’s grown since the pandemic” she added.
“The NHS is still dealing with substantial backlogs across the country, and cancer services are among those affected.”
The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) referral recommendations set out strict criteria for referrals to secondary specialist teams for suspected melanomas.
Just over 13,000 new melanomas are diagnosed each year in the UK, according to NICE, but the latest figures available suggest around 93 per cent of urgent referrals are not subsequently diagnosed with cancer.
A total of 715,803 urgent skin cancer referrals were made in 2023-24, or 1,132 per 100,000 head of population, an increase of more than ten per cent on 22-23 levels and a nearly 200 per cent rise (192.2%) on those made ten years ago in 2013-14, according to government figures.
