Progress in practice - The UKCPA autumn symposium was held in Blackpool on November 19-21, 1999
Collaboration was emphasised by Ms JUDY WILSON (director of the long term medical conditions alliance [LMCA]) who gave the Bristol-Myers Squibb lecture. "We should all pool our expertise," she said. There should be an acceptance that no one person or professional "knows it all" so a team approach, including the patient, should be adopted. This would result in the best quality of life for patients.
The LMCA was an umbrella body for over 100 national voluntary organisations concerned with long term illness, she said. The organisations covered a large number of conditions but shared certain characterisitcs. For all, there was rarely a cure and consequently quality of life for the patient was important, said Ms Wilson.
From her work as director of the LMCA, Ms Wilson said that she had learnt a great deal about people's views of health care. People liked a multidisciplinary team, she said, and pharmacists' roles were appreciated and endorsed. Information was highly valued and people wanted opportunities for self management and links to others with the same condition.
Self management programmes provided a chance for people to learn and to take responsibility for the management of their disease. Confident, knowledgeable patients practising self care had increased health status and utilised fewer health resources, she said.
Dr DEREK STEWART (Robert Gordon university, Aberdeen) asked about the representation of health care professionals in patient organisations. Ms Wilson said professionals had a useful role as a source of expert advice and support. However, people wanted to feel it was "their group" so organisations should be run by people with the disease.
Ms Wilson hoped that associate organisations of the LMCA, which included the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, would have more interaction with the LMCA and its members but without the risk of "professional domination".