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How does dermatology compare with other disease areas?
Skin disease costs the NHS in England and Wales around £1.82bn a year, a relatively low amount compared to other conditions such as chronic heart disease (CHD) or musculoskeletal conditions. While there are well over 1,000 dermatological diseases, just 10 of them account for 80% of GP consultations for skin conditions.
Of the 13m primary care dermatology GP consultations each year in England and Wales around 5.5% —some 716,830 of cases —are referred for specialist advice. This is a comparatively high referral rate (in comparison, there were 470,284 referrals to cardiology from primary to secondary care in 2012 in England).
New dermatology outpatient appointments represent 0.77% of total outpatient appointments, in comparison to cardiology, which accounts for 0.5% of the total.
Skin disease costs the NHS in England and Wales around £1.82bn a year
Q4 REVIEW - NOV 2016