Teledermatology service will speed up cancer diagnoses for patients in Lancashire and South Cumbria

Patients living in Lancashire and South Cumbria will soon have digital access to skin specialists with the local NHS announcing plans to establish a new teledermatology service for potential skin cancer lesions.

NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), which organises health services for the region, has launched a procurement process, inviting providers to bid for the three-year contract with an option to extend for a further two years.

Teledermatology is the use of digital images to diagnose, monitor or assess skin conditions without requiring a physical appointment with a clinician. The new service, which would launch in early 2027, has been designed to ensure timely access, effective triage and support faster diagnosis while maintaining safety and patient rights.

Kaye Davies, senior programme manager for Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB's Cancer Alliance, said: “The benefits of teledermatology are wide-ranging as it speeds up the whole process and has been used in our area for some time. The big win here is that this new service means that patients will not need to wait as long for a diagnosis or need to travel as far for their initial appointment as images will be captured in communities rather than at hospital sites. Rather than wait to see a GP, a patient will have a picture taken of their skin and it will be reviewed by a skin specialist within 72 hours.

“We have had a trial ongoing in our region for the past two years, which has been hugely successful, and this new service provides a long-term solution to workforce shortages, high and rising demand in both dermatology pathways and cancer services. It also reduces the variability of the services currently available to people in different parts of Lancashire and South Cumbria.”

The proposed service model includes a centralised referral hub, image capturing sites in various locations in community settings that are responsible for taking images of a patient’s lesions, and provision of teledermoscopy (also known as tele-triage) – the remote evaluation of skin lesions using specialised magnified images captured by dermatoscopes and reviewed by skin experts.

The centralised hub, SkinHub, will act as a place for Lancashire and South Cumbria patients to be referred who could be suitable for pre-secondary care teledermatology. 

You can find out more about the procurement process here: LSC Integrated Care Board :: Adult teledermatology service procurement