Tougher Standards Needed For Privately Run High Street Mole Clinics

Main Category: Dermatology
Article Date: 04 Mar 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Tougher standards are needed for privately run High Street mole clinics, particularly now that NHS organisations are being lobbied to buy in these services, says theDrug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB).

New imaging techniques for assessing suspicious looking moles and skin pigmentation have prompted the spread of privately run mole clinics.

Last year an all party parliamentary group looked into this development, concluding that these techniques should not replace a full examination by a skin specialist, and highlighting training issues among those staffing these services.

DTB echoes these conclusions and also highlights arrangements whereby some NHS dermatology services offer mole scanning privately to NHS patients as a means of generating income.

It says that all services, which depend on the use of new imaging methods, should be subject to rigorous standards and proper evaluation.

"In our view, an evidence based approach and appropriate quality standards are essential in using the new screening techniques for malignant melanoma [cancerous moles]," says DTB.

"Independent providers of clinics offering these methods should be required to publish outcome data and be part of clinical governance frameworks linked to specialist dermatology teams," it contends.

"We believe that without such safeguards, [primary care organisations] should not commission such services," DTB concludes.

Mole checks on the high street
DTB Vol 47: No 3: March 2009
http://dtb.bmj.com

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