Frequently Asked Questions

What is self care?

Self care is an integral part of daily life and is all about individuals taking responsibility for their own health and wellbeing, with support from the people involved in their care and in conjunction with care received from health and social care professionals. Self care includes the actions people take every day in order to stay fit and maintain good physical and mental health, meet their social and psychological needs, prevent illness or accidents and care more effectively for minor ailments and long term conditions.

People living with a long term condition can benefit enormously from being supported to self care. They can live longer, suffer less pain, anxiety, depression and fatigue, have a better quality of life, and be more active and independent. Dr Pete Smith, NAPC, and Self Care Forum Board member describes self-care as the following continuum:

What is self care support?

Its about supporting people in the decisions they make to manage their long term condition. It is also about offering individuals the right information and support at the right time, and empowering them to take a more active role in their health and wellbeing in order to improve their quality of life.

What is a long term condition?

A long term condition is one which cannot presently be cured but can be managed with treatment and/or therapy. Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), coronary heart disease, depression, diabetes, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, mental health and stroke are examples of common long term conditions.

What are the consequences of long term conditions?

Having a long term condition can significantly reduce a person’s quality of life, often resulting in simple daily activities which many people take for granted, being difficult or impossible to undertake. Long term conditions affect around 15 million people inEnglandand some live with more than one long term condition. Such conditions can often reduce dependence and mobility, making patients increasingly dependent on a broad range of health and social care services in their community as well as on their carers, families, friends and neighbours.

How are long term conditions managed?

Proactive management can make a real difference to patients with a single or range of long term conditions that affect their health and wellbeing. Improving disease management is essential to producing better health outcomes, slowing disease progression, reducing disability and ensuring better management of the sudden deteriorations often associated with long term conditions, which will result in improved quality of life for patients and reduce hospital admissions.

What is the NHS doing to help improve the lives of people with long term conditions?

People with long term conditions consistently tell us they do not want to be in hospital unless it is absolutely necessary and then only as part of a planned approach. They want to be involved in decision making about their care and have access to information to help them make those decisions.

The generic long tem conditions strategy uses a risk prediction approach to identify those people who are the most regular users of hospital services (and are at risk of readmissions), then stratify them according to complexity of need and commission services to meet those needs. It is an approach that works equally for people with single diseases or multiple co-morbidities. It is equally effective when used for physical and mental health issues and is applicable to people of all age groups including the frail elderly. In essence, the model stratifies the local population into three levels :

Case management – dedicated one to one support from a highly skilled health professional (e.g. a community matron) with regular face to face contact

• Personalised care planning – placing the person at the centre of decision making about their care and agreeing a plan of how that care will be delivered

Support people to self care – providing people with information and skills to make day to day decisions about the way they manage their health. This has included developing the Expert Patients Programme through the Community Interest Company with whom we maintain a close relationship

The model also includes using the emerging telecare and telehealth technology and telephone coaching arrangements to support people to remain independent for as long as possible.