Expert patients have reduced symptoms of illness
Patients trained in self management of chronic disease consult doctors
less |
Expert patients are more confident about looking after themselves, consult GPs less often, have reduced symptoms of illness and use pharmacy services more.
These are key
findings of an NHS pilot, as a result of which the Department
of Health’s expert patient programme is to be extended throughout
England.
The findings were sent to primary care trust chief executives last month
along with an instruction to include the expert patient programme in
their local delivery plans. In the first instance, they are to commission
lay-led generic chronic disease self-management courses from a range
of accredited voluntary organisations. Ultimately, PCTs will be expected
to develop the infrastructure for doing the training themselves.
The pilot phase of the expert
patient programme came to an end in the
autumn of last year and involved 19,000 participants. Reports from 963
of them indicate an 18 per cent increase in their use of community pharmacies,
a 7 per cent drop in GP consultations, a 16 per cent decrease in accident
and emergency department attendances and a 10 per cent drop in outpatient
appointments. A third of them reported that they felt better prepared
for consultations with professionals.
Adopting a wary approach to the results, Sir Liam Donaldson, the DoH’s
chief medical officer, said: “These findings should only be considered
as emerging trends and at this stage cannot be directly attributable
to the programme alone. However, they do indicate possible outcomes and
compare favourably with data from other countries where similar programmes
have been run.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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