Self Care Week

Between November 14 to 20, the East of England Ambulance Service supported the regional Self Care Week, which encouraged the public to take control of their own health and wellbeing, with support from the NHS.

The primary focus of the campaign was on the public, people with long term conditions and their carers, which is a key area of work for the ambulance service to help reduce hospital admissions and direct emergency and urgent care as appropriately as possible.
 
As well as learning how to keep fit and healthy, it's was about how people treat minor ailments, take medicine and seek help when needed. People often visit hospitals with minor illnesses and injuries that could often be better treated more quickly elsewhere, or at home using simple remedies.
 
The ambulance service encouraged people to consider using the appropriate NHS services that best meet their needs. This could be visiting a pharmacist for free, qualified health advice about coughs and colds to aches and pains, and other everyday illnesses. The service has also adopted a 'champion' programme, with several members of front-line staff dedicated to working with communities on areas such as  diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and dementia.
 
Dr. Pamela Chrispin, Medical Director at EEAST, said: "Self Care Week is an important way of reminding people how the NHS can support them in taking care of themselves. Long term conditions cause people to have more complex health needs than others. However, with the support of healthcare professionals, including our ambulance clinicians working hard in communities to assist patients with long-term conditions, they can plan their care to help manage their condition and prevent unnecessary hospital admission.”
 
People can help the NHS during busy times by making sure they ‘choose well’ and consider what would best help their needs. Information is also available on hospital, primary care and partnership trusts, and ambulance service websites.

Here are some facts and statistics which put into perspective the scale of the challenges for people and healthcare professionals.

• A common cold can last for up to 21 days yet only 4% of people would continue to self-treat for 15-28 days.
• 700,000 people in the UK have dementia, and this is expected to double in ageneration, due to our ageing population.
• Demographic projections outline a 252% rise in the number of people aged over65 by 2050.
• Long-term conditions are strongly linked to health inequalities: morbidityassociated with limiting LTC is very much higher in many ethnic and lowersocioeconomic groups
• A 2005 MORI survey showed that more than 90% of patients with a long term condition were interested in taking a more active role in their care. 75% stated that they would be more confident to self care if they had help from a healthcare professional or peer.
• Supporting self care effectively can reduce the impact on care services, for example reducing visits to GPs by 40%, A&E visits by up to 50% and potentially halving the hospital lengths of stay.