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The management of chronic conditions by NHS Wales

On 4 December 2008, the Auditor General for Wales published a report which finds that the NHS in Wales is not providing services that fully support the effective management of adults with a chronic condition.

The report notes that one-third of the adult population in Wales, an estimated 800,000 people, has at least one chronic condition, such as diabetes, bronchitis or heart disease; 13% of these adults have two or more conditions.

Chronic conditions place a considerable demand on healthcare services, accounting for 80% of all GP consultations. The report finds that too many patients with chronic conditions are treated in an unplanned way in acute hospitals while community services are often poorly coordinated and insufficiently integrated, leading to an inconsistent service for patients.

The report makes a number of recommendations for improvement, including:

• Incorporating community-based intermediate care and chronic condition services into core NHS delivery and models of care;
• Making all relevant staff across partner organisations aware of what services are available in the community and how to access them;
• Taking account of the flow of patients across health community and unitary authority based services when planning services;
• Proactively engaging patients and local communities in the planning of services.

The management of chronic conditions by NHS Wales (PDF)