The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7188 p311-320
9 March 2002

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The Expert Patient : A New Approach to Chronic Disease Management for the 21st Century (more)

Expert patient pilots to start this year

Training courses in self-management of chronic illnesses are to be developed and piloted by 25 primary care groups and trusts in England.

The courses derive from a Department of Health report "The expert patient — a new approach to chronic disease management for the 21st century", which sets out how the National Health Service expects to enable the 17.5 million people in England who live with long-term medical conditions to become key decision-makers in their own care.

Self-management programmes were pioneered in the United States and have been piloted in the United Kingdom principally by voluntary sector organisations. The Department of Health believes that those pilots have shown that a user-led model of self-management can enhance the relationship between patients and health care professionals and lead to improved clinical outcomes.

The expert patient report recommends the introduction of user-led self-management training programmes into the mainstream NHS in England over a six-year period. From 2002–04 a series of pilot programmes will be established and evaluated, followed by extension of programmes throughout the NHS between 2004 and 2007. All the programmes are to be integrated with other NHS health care initiatives, including national service frameworks, healthy living centres and NHS Direct.

The report says: "The era of the patient as the passive recipient of care is being replaced by a new emphasis on the relationship between the NHS and the people whom it serves — one in which health professionals and patients are genuine partners seeking together the best solutions to each patient's problems."