Psoriasis Guidelines Issued

We recently wrote about the fact that patients who have psoriasis tend to give low satisfaction ratings to their treatment, mostly due to the difficulty in treating sub-threshold symptoms. As such, we were not surprised to hear that new NICE guidelines reflected an aim to improve the standard of care of people with psoriasis.

The guidelines included recommendations on many levels. Firstly, it was set out that patients should be encouraged and given the chance to see a health care professional to test for psoriatic arthritis on a yearly basis. Secondly, it was suggested that this patient population would benefit from seeing a health care professional to test for heart problems every five years. Thirdly, and perhaps most surprisingly, the guidelines stressed that the clinicians needed to consider the physical, social and psychological effects that may have occurred as a result of the condition.

We were glad to read about these recommendations as they reflect a more holistic and proactive approach to patient care. Although it is likely that most GPs follow similar procedures already, it is important that they are now official, thereby ensuring a consistent care for patients across the country. In addition to that, the assessment of social and psychological effects is likely to prevent or minimise the effect of other co-morbidities often associated with psoriasis such as anxiety and depression. You can read about the co-morbidities associated with Psoriasis here.