CLINICAL GUIDELINESWORK AT STARSHIPCONTACTS
Information for
Health Professionals

Child and Youth Eczema Clinical Network - Te Rōpū Kiripai Hapori

Purpose of the Network

The purpose of Te Rōpū Kiripai Hapori is to establish a national multi-disciplinary network that will support clinicians working across community, primary, secondary and tertiary services to deliver high quality, cost effective and integrated eczema treatment programmes for children, youth and their whānau.

Clinical Guidelines

Clinical Guidelines developed by Te Rōpū Kiripai Hapori can be found in the Starship Guidelines. These are:

See also the Starship Clinical Guideline 'Eczema - Management of Acute Flares'

Current activities / what's new

  • The Network publishes newsletters containing updates and helpful information for health professionals that are shared to our National Eczema Extended Network. Read the Autumn Edition here (NaturaCoco containing steroid) or see below for previous editions.

    If you a health professional interested in receiving our newsletter, please email us at eczemacn@paediatrics.org.nz to join Te Rōpū Kiripai Hapori Extended Network.

  • The Eczema Action Plan is now published in Samoan - see Eczema Action Plan Starship website.

Resources for Health Professionals

  1. Handouts for families

    1. Eczema Action Plan. See also Samoan Translation (NEW)
      The following plans are for the management of acute eczema flares:
      < 1 year of age
      1-4 years of age
      > 5 years

    2. Bleach bath instructions

    3. Caring for your child's eczema
      See further websites in the Family Information Section

  2. Eczema Severity Scoring
    A patient-oriented eczema measure for childhood eczema from the University of Nottingham can be downloaded here.

  3. Websites

    1. Funded emollients and plain steroid creams in New Zealand 2020. Please note that this poster content is not exhaustive and is subject to funding and brand changes. This document is currently under review (2024). Please refer to the PHARMAC schedule for current information.  Pharmaceutical Schedule - Pharmac | New Zealand Government

    2. SafeRx Healthy Prescribing - Eczema: http://www.saferx.co.nz/assets/Documents/full/e8cb388a3c/eczema.pdf

    3. BPAC paper ‘Childhood eczema: improving adherence to treatment basics’ updated 2024 (D. Purvis)  Childhood eczema: improving adherence to treatment basics - Best Practice Advocacy Centre New Zealand (bpac.org.nz)

    4. BPAC paper ‘Topical corticosteroids for childhood eczema: clearing up the confusion’: 2021 (D Purvis): Topical corticosteroids for childhood eczema: clearing up the confusion - Best Practice Advocacy Centre New Zealand (bpac.org.nz)

    5. The Australasian College of Dermatologists Consensus Statement: Topical corticosteroids in paediatric eczema https://www.dermcoll.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ACD-Consensus-Statement-Topical-Corticosteroids-September-2022-.pdf

    6. NICE Guidelines (updated 2023) https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/CG57

  4. Previous newsletters

  5. Education and training

    1. Dr Diana Purvis - Paediatric Dermatologist - 'Overview of childhood eczema' 2019 Goodfellow Symposium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rv8fmHleGk

    2. Pharmac seminar presentation - 'Diagnosis and treatment (2017) on: Prevention of paediatric food allergy and eczema - Pharmac | New Zealand Government.

    3. Western Australia Managing eczema in children: a guide for clinicians: https://pch.health.wa.gov.au/~/media/Files/Hospitals/PCH/General-documents/Health-professionals/PRGs/Eczema-Algorithm_PCH_0422.pdf

    4. ASCIA Paediatric atopic dermatitis (eczema) e-training for health professionals: https://etraininghp.ascia.org.au/mod/page/view.php?id=135

    5. Nottingham - Childhood eczema Q&A event for pharmacy staff (March 25th 2021)  https://smex12-5-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:443/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=https%3a%2f%2fmediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk%2fmedia%2f1%5foif1lj2n&umid=c49fa50a-9e61-4015-8ddf-248bdc1229c8&auth=4208f9d292d4bb72367c9cdb6e8d9affc9f9dfab-dc910d9a8956c50c45efeb7e5b51ab4f1e0df005

    (CME points may be available for some of these)

Family Information, handouts and websites

  1. General handouts

  2. Handouts related to common questions and concerns

    The majority of children with eczema can be managed in an outpatient setting. However, it is often under-treated, with fear of topical corticosteroids a major factor. These websites are for both health professionals, patients and their families.

    1. Eczema Myths & The Facts|KidsHealth NZ (by Te Rōpū Kiripai Hapori). A pdf version can be downloaded here 

    2. Eczema and Food Allergy - Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) 

    3. Patient Fact Sheet for use of Topical Corticosteroids (by the Australasian College of Dermatologists) ACD-Fact-Sheet-How-do-I-apply-topical-corticosteroids-for-the-treatment-of-eczema-September-2022.pdf (dermcoll.edu.au)

  3. Videos:

    1. These videos were developed by Te Rōpū Kiripai Hapori and are useful to show parents/carers. eg Eczema care: Three Easy Steps (https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/eczema-care-3-easy-steps?language=zh-hans). See also the other 3 videos on this site.

    2. View a video of a Plunket Facebook Live event with Dr Diana Purvis discussing eczema, (2022): Eczema & Skin Conditions - Questions & Answers With An Expert | KidsHealth NZ

    3. See the Plunket Live Eczema Expert Advice - 4 Part live Chat video Series of '1. what is Eczema', '2. Steroids and Eczema', '3. Bleach baths and top tips for Eczema' and '4. Anxiety and the emotional burden of Eczema' at https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/eczema-expert-advice-4-part-live-chat-video-series

  4. Websites

    1. Kidshealth website: https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/tags/eczema

    2. Allergy Prevention including Eczema Care and Infant Feeding: The Australian National Allergy Strategy has developed a comprehensive website called ‘Nip Allergies in the Bub’. https://preventallergies.org.au/eczema/
      This website contains practical information for parents about how to introduce the common food allergens and how to optimise eczema management. Please note that contacts e.g. emergency numbers; and brands, products or advice such as for bleach products, adding oil or salt, and use of wet wraps, may be different in New Zealand. It is also recommended in New Zealand, that unless a clinical diagnosis of food allergy is made, food not be delayed or withdrawn from a child’s diet.

    3. UK parent Eczema care online toolkit: https://www.eczemacareonline.org.uk/en/landing-page-my-child

Model of care for childhood eczema

View the Model of care for childhood eczema via this link