A STUDY OF GENERAL-PRACTITIONERS SKIN SURGERY IN CANTERBURY

Aims. To evaluate skin surgery done by general practitioners in Christ church. Methods. Twenty-eight general practitioners performing regular skin surgery were studied. Their clinical accuracy and completeness o f excision was analysed. Skin lesions referred for specialist treatmen t were also studied. Results. Three hundred and three lesions were sen t to the laboratory for analysis by participating practitioners. Sixty -one malignancies were present comprising 29 basal cell carcinomas, 28 squamous cell carcinomas, three malignant melanomas and one cutaneous lymphoma. Nineteen of the 61 malignant lesions were incompletely exci sed. Twenty eight further lesions were referred to specialists for tre atment. Conclusions. General practitioners in Canterbury perform more skin surgery and remove more malignant lesions than their British coun terparts. Although the adequacy of their skin surgery is better than o ther groups studied overseas there is considerable room for improvemen t.