Health messages come at us thick and fast. Whether it’s eating more fruit and veg or eating less sugar, exercising more or drinking less alcohol. Empowering people with the confidence and information to look after themselves when they can, and visit the GP when they need to, gives people greater control of their own health and encourages healthy behaviours that help prevent ill health in the long-term.
In many cases people can take care of their minor ailments, reducing the number of consultations and enabling health care professionals to focus on caring for higher risk patients, such as those with comorbidities, the very young and elderly, managing long-term conditions and providing new services.
Key statistics
- Two in five adults have asked for a GP appointment for a minor condition
- 50 per cent of people with long-term conditions do not stick to their medication regimes
- 53 per cent of patients seen by a GP told to use over-the-counter medicines
- four symptoms of ill health are experienced every fortnight by the average person
- nine out of 10 people with symptoms of illness self-care
- eight per cent of people are going to A&E for relatively minor conditions, like head lice
- three out of four people use their smart phone to support their self-care.
More cost-effective use of stretched resources allows money to be spent where it’s most needed and improve health outcomes. Furthermore, increased personal responsibility around healthcare helps improve people’s health and wellbeing and better manage long-term conditions when they do develop. This will ultimately ensure the long-term sustainability of the NHS.
Around 80 per cent of all care in the UK is self-care. The majority of people feel comfortable managing everyday minor ailments like coughs and colds themselves; particularly when they feel confident in recognising the symptoms and have successfully treated using an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine before.
On average, people in England experience nearly four symptoms every fortnight, the three commonest being feeling tired/run down, headaches and joint pain and most of these are managed in the community without people seeking professional healthcare.
Research shows that people often abandon self-care earlier than they need to, typically seeking the advice of a doctor within a period of four to seven days. The main reasons for this are:
- lack of confidence in understanding the normal progress of symptoms (eg a cold can last up to 14 days)
- the perceived severity and duration of symptoms
- reassurance that nothing more serious is wrong
- a prescription to ‘cure’ the illness, even though the same medicine may be available over-the-counter.
Often just simple changes aimed at meeting the needs of local communities can be very effective at encouraging increased self-care. These include giving patients the information they need to care for their common ailments and to make healthy lifestyle choices, signposting people to the right local services and outreach work to provide health advice in non-traditional settings such as pubs, libraries and job centres.
How can councils get involved?
Local authorities are clearly a key partner for the health service in encouraging self-care. In fact, in many areas councils are playing a leading role. Assessing and ensuring an enabling environment in which self-care interventions can be made available in safe and appropriate ways must be a key initial piece of any strategy to introduce or scale-up these interventions. Creating an enabling environment not only requires action from the health sector, but also other sectors as well, for example, the education, justice and social services sectors, because self-care interventions are mostly accessed and/or used outside formal health services. Councils already utilise relevant awareness events during the year, like Mental Health Week, Backcare Awareness Week, Men’s Health Week and National Self-Care Week. When considering self-care, it may be useful to think of it as a house. The foundations are commissioning tactics that embed self-care.
One of the walls is supporting people to develop the knowledge and skills to self care, while the other relates to enabling staff to help them to do these. These walls are then bridged by a roof representing organisational systems that allow all of this to take place. The approach is known as the House of Care.
Several councils have implemented successful self-care initiatives:
- Leeds City Council utilises the House of Care model to support individuals with long-term conditions, helping them to manage their health more effectively
- Manchester City Council focuses on putting theory into practice by promoting self-care at a local level through various community-based programs
- Somerset Council uses social prescribing to promote self-care, connecting individuals with community resources that support their health and wellbeing.
Self-care is a vital component of a sustainable healthcare system. By promoting self-care, councils in England are helping individuals take control of their health, reduce the strain on healthcare services, and improve overall community wellbeing. Through public health campaigns, community engagement, social prescribing, and support for long-term conditions, councils are making a significant impact on the health of their residents.
By fostering a culture of self-care, we can create healthier, more resilient communities that are better equipped to face the challenges of the future.
Resources
The Self-Care Forum fact sheets aim to help councils and service-users discuss issues around self-care within the settings and especially how to handle the symptoms in the future.