Dermatology

Clinical Services and Special Interests

• General dermatology: conditions of skin, hair, nails and mucous membranes
• Skin cancers: diagnosis and management of sun-damaged skin and skin cancers, especially skin cancers in immunosuppressed patients
• Vascular dermatology- skin conditions secondary to an underlying vascular disease (Prof. Parsi)
• Infectious diseases: skin conditions associated with HIV, warts and other cutaneous infections

Clinics and Consultations

General Dermatology: Monday and Wednesday PM
Surgical Dermatology: Wednesday alternate PM
Multi-disciplinary Clinic: Monday AM- monthly
In-patient Consultations: Monday-Friday 9am-5pm*

* Please note there is no after-hour dermatology consultation or on-call service.

Outpatient Clinics

Outpatients clinics are staffed by dermatology registrars and supervised by consultants. Registrars are qualified medical practitioners who are undergoing specialist training to obtain specialist recognition as a dermatologist. Dermatology registrars will be taking the medical history, perform a medical examination and if required will present the findings to the consultant in charge of the clinic. Please note you cannot request to see a particular dermatologist without first seeing a registrar at a public clinic. If you do not wish to be seen by a registrar and wish to see a particular consultant only, you need to obtain a referral to see that individual dermatologist privately in their private practice.

 Appointments

St Vincent’s Hospital is a public hospital. While every effort is made to see patients at their scheduled appointment time, clinics may run late due to the complexity of patient care and unforeseen clinical circumstances. We appreciate your patience and understanding if there is a delay.



Photographs

Photographs may be obtained during the course of your consultation. Photographs form part of your medical records and will be saved on the secure hospital-based electronic medical record system.



Teaching

St Vincent’s Hospital is a teaching hospital of the University of New South Wales (UNSW). We formally train dermatology registrars, junior medical officers, medical students, nursing and other Allied Health staff. Consultants may wish to teach junior staff about your condition. If you do not wish to be seen by other members of the dermatology team for teaching purposes, please let the registrar know.

All patients attending the Dermatology Outpatients Clinic MUST have a valid referral from a medical practitioner.

The referral must:

• Be addressed to a named Dermatology Consultant. Referrals addressed simply to “Dermatology” or “Dear Skin Doctor” will not be accepted.
• Clearly state the suspected diagnosis or reason for referral.
• Be valid at the time of the appointment (generally 12 months for referrals from a GP and 3 months for referrals from another specialist).



Patients who live outside the St Vincent’s Hospital catchment area should ordinarily be referred to their local public hospital dermatology service. Out-of-area referrals may be redirected to the appropriate local service unless there is a specific clinical reason for referral to St Vincent’s Hospital.



Please send referrals only to General Ambulatory Care (GAC):

Email: svhs.gacreception@svha.org.au

Phone: (02) 8382 3110



Urgent Conditions

For urgent conditions, the referring medical practitioner should contact the Dermatology Registrar on call through the St Vincent’s Hospital switchboard.

For after-hours management of acute dermatological conditions, patients should attend or be referred to the nearest Emergency Department.



Triage Policy

Once received, referrals are triaged by Dermatology medical staff according to clinical urgency, departmental and hospital policy, and relevant NSW Health requirements.

Appointment timeframes are indicative and may vary according to clinical urgency and service capacity.

Click here for detailed information on the triage of dermatological patients. (Dermatology Triage.pdf.aspx)

The routine examination of skin is a service provided within the community by general practitioners and dermatologists in private practice.

The Hospital Outpatient Service is designed for cases where the referring doctors believe a specialist opinion such as that provided by a teaching hospital is required. Routine skin checks are not accepted except for existing St Vincent’s Hospital transplant, immunosuppressed patients.

General practitioners should be consulted for all other skin checks and referrals to community-based dermatologists should be made if required. The department does not deal with cosmetic concerns.  

Referrals

For all patient referrals and referral-related enquiries, please use only:

General Ambulatory Care

Email: svha.gacreception@svha.org.au

Phone: (02) 8382 3110

Fax: (02) 8382 3111



Dermatology Enquiries

Email: dermatologyenquiries@svha.org.au

Please do not send patient referrals to this email address

Address:

Department of Dermatology

Level 5, De Lacy Building

St Vincent’s Hospital

Darlinghurst NSW 2011