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Dermatology (services for skin conditions)

Dermatology is the medical term for the treatment or management of skin conditions, which can include rashes, lesions, lumps on the skin, changes to moles and skin cancer.

NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for making sure organisations are contracted to provide dermatology services.

A range of contracts for dermatology services are in place across Kent and Medway and the ICB is making the necessary arrangements to re-procure them, where required.

As part of the process of making sure we get the right services for people in Kent and Medway in the future, we want to hear from patients.

This engagement is ongoing as it forms part of a procurement process. The plan is for new contracts for the dermatology service in Kent and Medway to be in place from Autumn 2023.

Patient survey

Over a period of four weeks, patient engagement was carried out to find out people’s experience.

Every person currently being treated or who have been under the care of the dermatology service, a letter explaining the reasons for collecting their experience and a link to an online survey.

Every patient was given the opportunity to request a hard copy version of the survey and a telephone number to contact a member of the engagement team to go through the survey questions, if needed.

Feedback summary

More than six hundred people responded to the survey. The feedback received was similar across Kent and Medway’s four Health and Care Partnership areas.

  • Satisfaction rate: high, with 90 per cent of people surveyed ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with the service they had received
  • Information and feedback: more information to be shared with people to help them to manage the skin condition
  • Time between initial appointment and follow-ups: reduce the time between appointments and better communication explaining the reason
  • Service and clinics: staff overall are warm, friendly, helpful and empathetic, with a very small number of experiences countering this view
  • Appointment locations: some people felt they were travelling a long way to receive treatment and wanted to access a service closer to home
  • Digital support: many people were referred using a skincare app and felt their experience could be improved by step-by-step guidance on how to use the app

How the feedback has been used

The feedback has been used to:

  • to support the current service providers and referrers to improve their services, patient pathways, experience and outcomes
  • to help develop the service scope, specification, pathways, key service performance indicators and quality standards (requirements of the providers to ensure they meet patients’ needs safely and effectively) as part of the re-procurement of these services.

What’s next?

We continue to involve patients in deciding who will provide dermatology services. If you wish to be involved in this process, please email kmicb.engagecomms@nhs.net

The next stage of the process will include setting up a people’s forum, recruited from those who responded to the survey.

This forum will become a part of the ongoing process and will be engaged with throughout.

There will also be people involved in the scoring of the bids, along with subject matter experts.

In the meantime, the treatment and support dermatology patients currently receive will continue as before.

Any change in service provider will be managed to minimise any disruption to existing patients



Dermatology is the medical term for the treatment or management of skin conditions, which can include rashes, lesions, lumps on the skin, changes to moles and skin cancer.

NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for making sure organisations are contracted to provide dermatology services.

A range of contracts for dermatology services are in place across Kent and Medway and the ICB is making the necessary arrangements to re-procure them, where required.

As part of the process of making sure we get the right services for people in Kent and Medway in the future, we want to hear from patients.

This engagement is ongoing as it forms part of a procurement process. The plan is for new contracts for the dermatology service in Kent and Medway to be in place from Autumn 2023.

Patient survey

Over a period of four weeks, patient engagement was carried out to find out people’s experience.

Every person currently being treated or who have been under the care of the dermatology service, a letter explaining the reasons for collecting their experience and a link to an online survey.

Every patient was given the opportunity to request a hard copy version of the survey and a telephone number to contact a member of the engagement team to go through the survey questions, if needed.

Feedback summary

More than six hundred people responded to the survey. The feedback received was similar across Kent and Medway’s four Health and Care Partnership areas.

  • Satisfaction rate: high, with 90 per cent of people surveyed ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with the service they had received
  • Information and feedback: more information to be shared with people to help them to manage the skin condition
  • Time between initial appointment and follow-ups: reduce the time between appointments and better communication explaining the reason
  • Service and clinics: staff overall are warm, friendly, helpful and empathetic, with a very small number of experiences countering this view
  • Appointment locations: some people felt they were travelling a long way to receive treatment and wanted to access a service closer to home
  • Digital support: many people were referred using a skincare app and felt their experience could be improved by step-by-step guidance on how to use the app

How the feedback has been used

The feedback has been used to:

  • to support the current service providers and referrers to improve their services, patient pathways, experience and outcomes
  • to help develop the service scope, specification, pathways, key service performance indicators and quality standards (requirements of the providers to ensure they meet patients’ needs safely and effectively) as part of the re-procurement of these services.

What’s next?

We continue to involve patients in deciding who will provide dermatology services. If you wish to be involved in this process, please email kmicb.engagecomms@nhs.net

The next stage of the process will include setting up a people’s forum, recruited from those who responded to the survey.

This forum will become a part of the ongoing process and will be engaged with throughout.

There will also be people involved in the scoring of the bids, along with subject matter experts.

In the meantime, the treatment and support dermatology patients currently receive will continue as before.

Any change in service provider will be managed to minimise any disruption to existing patients