Service Guidelines and Standards for Phototherapy Units
The British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) is responsible for developing guidance that is solely or mostly focused on the organisation and delivery of dermatology healthcare services (service guidance). These differ from clinical guidelines which mainly deal with the process of care and consider how interventions should be delivered and by whom. Service guidance attempts to link these issues with the broader remit of the health service – in particular the interaction between structures and processes. For example, to deliver effective care it is necessary to ensure there are appropriate facilities, sufficient equipment and staff to deliver the required service or clinical intervention safely to service users etc.
Our approach to the development of current and pending service guidance is based on the core principles and methods guide set out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for developing service guidance to meet its accreditation requirements.
Phototherapy Service Guidance
In May 2013, the BAD invited a range of medical professionals and patient representatives to revisit its published Phototherapy Service Guidance developed in 2011. The remit of this new Working Party Group (WPG) was to undertake an evidence based review following our NICE Service Guidance accreditation process (see Appendix 1: BAD Developing Dermatology Service Guidance).
WPG members were chosen for their specialist experience of phototherapy practice in a variety of delivery settings which includes services provided in densely populated urban areas to sparsely populated rural areas. A broad range of stakeholder representatives are included in the WPG: Dermatologists, Phototherapy Nurses, Phototherapy Physiotherapists, Medical Physicists, and patients. As part of the evidence review for producing the Phototherapy Service Standards the WPG has also taken into account established managed clinical networks and service frameworks already in place in Scotland and the South East of England. Some of these core principles are formalised in the following set of Service Standards (recommendations) contained within this guidance.
Download BAD Phototherapy Service Standards in PDF format.