The forgotten majority? A new policy framework for improving outcomes for people with long-term conditions (5 December 2023)

Summary

The health needs of the population are changing as it ages. Health services, particularly in secondary care, have traditionally been designed to deal with patients with a single disease, but for a growing number this is no longer a suitable model of care. Primary care has been at the vanguard of delivering more person centred and whole-person care, but many of the existing policy measures and incentives within it are outdated and aimed at managing single diseases.

This report by Future Health sets out a series of recommendations for developing the Major Conditions Strategy to encompass a wider range of long-term and multiple conditions, putting patients rather than specific conditions at the centre. It also provides new data on the rising challenge of long-term conditions and in particular multiple long-term conditions.