Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment NHS England has made of the capacity of specialist dermatology centres to support people living with hidradenitis suppurativa.

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) can usually be managed through routine access to primary or secondary care. For those patients with the most serious forms of HS who cannot be managed in this way, a referral to a specialised service may be appropriate.

NHS England commissions specialised services for people with rare and complex skin conditions and has set out what providers must have in place in order to offer specialist dermatology care. The level of service provision nationally is based on an assessment of the likely patient population who will need to access specialised care. It is estimated that about 10% of patients requiring dermatology services (about 10,000 each year) need care from specialised dermatology centres.

Specialised services may provide more intensive therapies with the involvement of a range of health and care professionals, subject to a patient’s needs. More information can be found at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a12-spec-dermatology.pdf