Support for self-care

Research shows that supporting people to manage their own health can improve health outcomes, increase patient satisfaction and help in deploying the biggest collaborative resource available to the NHS and social care – patients and the public.

On Monday April 30th around 60 experts on self-care from around the UK – including key policy makers, practitioners and researchers – will attend a conference in Dundee to discuss the latest developments in how people can be supported to manage their own illness.

The conference is being staged by the Social Dimensions of Health Institute, the joint venture of the Universities of Dundee and St Andrews.

Delegates will hear presentations from five leading speakers, detailing the latest research evidence and current developments relating to support for self care.

“People are living longer with poor health, which brings up issues of the best way to care for them and manage their illness,¿ said Dr Martyn Jones, associate director of the Social Dimensions of Health Institute and a senior lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Dundee.

“There is a large amount of evidence that more people are surviving health conditions that would have been fatal in the fairly recent past, including diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease,”

“Self care is the entire system we can use to support people in managing their illnesses, which if we do well leads to them having fewer unexpected visits to hospital.”

The conference takes place from 10 am to 4 pm on Monday April 30th at the University of Dundee.