By Marjory Inglis, health reporter

TAYSIDE FAMILY doctors are turning to digital photography to get snap decisions on diagnoses of skin cancer.

GPs are exploiting modern technology to electronically send high quality digital images taken in their surgeries to the plastic surgery department at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.

There, specialists download the images on their computers to tell at a glance whether the skin problem photographed is a cancer.

Plastic surgeon Howard Stevenson, who is leading the digital image referral project, indicated there was delay built in to the traditional route of referral whereby GPs posted a letter requesting an out-patient appointment and the patient was then sent a letter from the hospital requesting attendance at a clinic.

Only then would the specialist see the patient and assess the lumps or skin changes to give a diagnosis and either put the patient’s mind at rest or prioritise them for treatment.

The new project is testing a faster route for referral that offers speedier diagnosis and cuts down the number of times the patient requires to attend hospital.

“The key is obviously to try to make the diagnosis of skin cancer much earlier and I think we will certainly be able to do that,” said Mr Stevenson.

Already eight family doctor practices in Dundee are using digital image referral for suspected skin cancer, but the project is being extended across the city and beyond.

Staff in GP surgeries are being trained to use the cameras and the electronic referral system which is expected to have particular benefits to those living at a distance from the hospital.

Mr Stevenson said it only took a few minutes for himself or his colleagues to look at a mole or other skin condition giving a patient cause for concern, but the round trip to the clinic for that brief consultation could take several hours.

“A lot of patients are sent to us with suspected skin cancer and the incidence is rising,” said Mr Stevenson, adding it was a particular problem for elderly people.

He said that traditionally an 80-year-old living in Kinloch Rannoch with a suspected skin cancer would be brought by patient transport to the clinic at Ninewells, would have to sit and wait in out-patients for what was probably only a “two-minute consultation” then make the journey back home, either reassured the condition is not cancer or having to return for treatment.

Under the new system a photograph of the suspected cancer is taken in the local surgery and sent electronically to Ninewells for assessment, following which the patient can be reassured or given an appointment for treatment.”

The Scottish Executive’s Centre for Change and Innovation was so interested in the project it backed a bid for funding which has allowed the plastic surgery department to recruit a project manager.

The successful candidate was Nikki McColgan, sister-in-law of Dundee’s internationally renowned athlete Liz. Nikki is now working closely with the GP practices involved in electronic referral and working towards rolling it out across the city.

Dr David Wallace, from Muirhead Medical Centre, the first practice to “go live,” said digital referral was a “fantastic service” that had already made “a big, big difference” to his patients. Using the system, patients he was “not sure about” had been identified by a consultant viewing the digital image as having cancer and treated quickly.