Long-term conditions: self-management is key

Long-term conditions account for 70% of NHS spend.¹ As the prevalence of these conditions increases together with an ageing population, self-care and self- management are fundamental to addressing these spiralling costs.

The findings of a report entitled Investigating the future of supported self- management from the Abbvie Knowledge Network (AKN) outlines some recommendations that the authors believe could contribute to the £20 bn of efficiency savings that the NHS is required to make by 2015 by addressing some of the costs related to the management of long-term conditions. 

The report recommendations address inefficiencies in the management of healthcare resources, especially long-term conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), where presentation of the condition often occurs at a young age and has the potential to cause lifelong ill health. IBD currently affects 620,000 people in the UK at a cost of approximately £470 m per year.^{2, 3}