Building safe Dermoscopy Capability in Primary Care

Helping primary care teams assess skin lesions with confidence

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The problem DermCAP addresses

Primary care teams assess large numbers of skin lesions every year, yet most clinicians receive little or no structured, supervised training in dermoscopy. This creates predictable system pressures including defensive referrals, variable referral quality, rising secondary care demand, and clinician anxiety.

2-minute Overview

Dermoscopy training gap leading to increased referrals to secondary care
Gaps in dermoscopy training can contribute to precautionary referrals and pathway inefficiency.

What DermCAP does differently

DermCAP is a 13-month, safety-led clinical apprenticeship that builds dermoscopy capability within primary care rather than relying on short courses or image-only learning. The focus is on supervised, real-world clinical learning with explicit safety boundaries.

What commissioners commission — and what practices deliver

Commissioned Elements

  • Programme governance and supervision
  • Structured apprenticeship framework
  • Quality assurance
  • Safety monitoring
  • Reporting

Practice-delivered Elements

  • Protected time for supervised spot clinics
  • Participation in audit and reflection
  • local workflow integration

Governance and patient safety

Patient safety is the organising principle of DermCAP. Safeguards include clear inclusion and exclusion criteria, defined escalation thresholds, ongoing supervision and case review, and an explicit ‘if in doubt,refer’ policy

Measurement, oversight, and reporting

DermCAP generates commissioner-relevant data focused on assurance rather than volume, including participation metrics, referral patterns where available, image quality standards, and safety escalation activity

→ Participation

Clinician engagement and progression through the programme

→ Referral patterns

Referral behaviour trends where data is available

→ Image quality

Adherence to agreed image quality standards

→ Safety escalation

Monitoring and reporting of safety and escalation activity

Why this model is sustainable

Diagram showing the primary care dermoscopy challenge and the DermCAP solution, including unmet training need, system pressures, and a sustainable supervised training model
The DermCAP model addresses unmet dermoscopy training needs in primary care through a sustainable, supervised clinical apprenticeship with embedded safety and governance.

Unlike short courses, DermCAP creates permanent upstream capability.

Once trained, clinicians retain core diagnostic skill year after year, local expertise remains embedded within practices, and system value accrues beyond the initial programme period.

While the core apprenticeship is delivered over 13 months, some systems choose to commission optional follow-on years focused on maintaining capability, governance, and assurance as services mature. This approach helps protect against skill fade and preserves the original return on investment over time.

Next Steps

If DermCAP aligns with local priorities, we are happy to share a detailed commissioning proposal,discuss pilot or phased implementation, or explore alignment with existing dermatology pathways.

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