The DECIDE® Education Programme is a short-contact CPD programme aimed at interdisciplinary community clinicians.

The programme integrates educational methodology with NHS policies and guidelines to drive improvement in clinical decision-making, a skill fundamental to providing better value healthcare. It provides clinicians with opportunities to increase contextual knowledge and apply decision-making behaviours to make accurate diagnostic and management decisions.

The model underpinning this education is an innovative approach to CPD, providing a tailored population-based approach targeting key time points that influence a patient’s journey during their experience of healthcare delivery in the UK.

The pilot programme: DECIDE® – Dermatology has focused on providing GPs with education and new equipment to help diagnose skin lesions within the practice, reducing the need to refer as many patients for an urgent specialist dermatology assessment. The programme aims to improve referrals and care pathways for patients with common skin problems.

GPs complete a three-month flexible learning course, including online learning and a one-day workshop, to develop their decision-making skills. This has helped the GP to observe and diagnose some skin lesions, preventing a referral to specialist services in many cases. Where a specialist opinion is needed, the GP can refer the patient to dermatology for an urgent assessment. The introduction of the education programme gives many patients a speedier diagnosis and peace of mind without the wait, whilst freeing up specialist services for patients that do need them.

The DECIDE® GP Dermatology Education Programme was shortlisted for Primary Care or Community Service Redesign Initiative at the HSJ Value awards 2020.

Health Innovation Manchester supported the Programme Director and course designer, Professor Mini Singh, Professor of Medical Education and Consultant Dermatologist from The University of Manchester, with the roll-out and upscaling of the DECIDE® Education Programme package, including project management, support with funding applications, ethics and health economist analysis.

The project ran in 7 out of 10 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in Greater Manchester: Bolton, Bury, Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, Manchester, Salford, Trafford and Wigan.

During 2019-2020, application of DECIDE’s value-based education IMPACT model led to system savings of £212,212 in 12 months. Delivery of precision education through a system-wide collaboration resulted in reductions in inappropriate referrals and prescribing, widespread practice change and improvement in quality of referrals. Read the full DECIDE® case study on the AHSN Network Atlas of Solutions in Healthcare.

Find out more about DECIDE® Dermatology Education Programme