The Dermatology Ecosystem in Europe Differs from One Country to Another.

• There are a number of fundamental differences in the way that healthcare system is run in different countries. Some of these can be state-funded, national or regional basis, or they can be insurance funded, which can be mandatory or personal, as well as having private- or personal-funded services.
• In different countries, there’s quite a lot of variability in how access to a dermatologist is gained, either directly booking or through a GP gatekeeper with a referral system. There are differences in the number of dermatologists and distances to get to them.
• If we look at data, we can see that Greece seems to have the highest number of dermatologists per million inhabitants, at a hundred. Whereas, at the other end of the scale, of Ireland only has 15. Many of the Western countries, such as Austria, Italy, France, and Germany have relatively high numbers, in the region of 60 to 80 total dermatologists per million inhabitants. Whereas, other countries, such as the UK, only has about 30, slightly less in the Netherlands, and just under 30 in Spain. (2020)

• There are also some other fundamental differences:
  • If you look at the table above, you can see that, in many countries, dermatologists work in private practice or are office based. Whereas, in other countries, there’s more predominance of hospital-based departments.
  • Looking at the right, you can see that Spain, the Netherlands, and the UK are at the end of this spectrum, so they have fewer dermatologists. And those dermatologists are based more in hospital sectors. Therefore, it is not surprising that they may have a greater requirement for using technology such as teledermatology.

Saul Halpern, MD. Teledermatology in Europe. 8th World Congress of Teledermatology, Skin Imaging and AI in Skin diseases – November 2020