Future of Dermatology / Number of Practicing Dermatologists

Context

Access challenges are often attributed to a shortage of dermatologists. National workforce data and professional experience show that the core issue lies in maintaining sufficient clinical availability for insured, medical dermatology, rather than in the absolute number of trained specialists.

Belgium counts a sufficient number of licensed dermatologists on paper (815). Pressure on access results from structural changes in care delivery, increasing demand, and evolving professional practice patterns.

Medical dermatology remains structurally financially undervalued, limiting investment in staff and infrastructure. The Working Group follows ongoing discussions on remuneration and future planning assumptions, and argues to ensure a sufficient number of dermatologists are trained in order to keep the number of active dermatologists at the same level.

Key findings

→ Stable headcount, declining effective capacity due to retirement trends, longer consultations, and reduced direct patient care time. (Dermatologists 35-44 years: 4 316 contacts per FTE/year, dermatologists 55 - 64 years: 5 183 contacts per FTE/year, source: RIZIV/INAMI)

→ Consultations are longer and more complex, with dermatologists seeing on average around 21–22 patients per day versus higher planning benchmarks.

→ Skin cancer workload has a structural impact, limiting capacity for other insured dermatological care.

→ Inflow of new dermatologists and outflow of retiring dermatologists must be balanced.