Professor Jose Valderas

New report contributes to European policy on patients with multimorbidity

The UK fact sheet for the ICARE4EU project – part funded by the European Commission, has been published this month.

The research led by Professor Jose Valderas and Charlotte Bramwell (PhD candidate) of the Health Services Policy and Research Group at the University of Exeter Medical School, investigated UK policy and practice aimed at the care of patients with multiple chronic conditions. The document examines the scale and issues surrounding the care of this growing patient population. Identification of innovative and integrated care models in practice are described, along with survey results describing the characteristics of these initiatives.

The key points:

• General Practice (Primary Care) is responsible for the provision of health care for people with chronic conditions in the UK. General Practitioners (GPs) and practice nurses play a key role in the coordination of care with input from secondary care specialists.
• The prevalence of coexisting chronic health conditions (multimorbidity) is rising and is a challenge facing health care in the UK.
• All four UK countries have a strategic emphasis at government level on the investigation of current provision and the redesign of healthcare delivery for patients with chronic conditions, including those with multimorbidity.
• Several initiatives focusing specifically on the care of patients with multimorbidity have been developed within the last 5 years in the UK with the aim of improving their care and quality of life. These initiatives are often provided by multi-disciplinary teams and by integrated teams, including health care, social care and the voluntary sector.

Researchers at Forth Valley NHS in Scotland, PenCLAHRC (University of Plymouth), University of Keele & NIVEL (Netherlands institute for health services research) contributed to the project.

Date: 13 December 2016