Self Care - your health, your way
Learning to live well
The aim of Self Care Week is to get
people, especially those with long term conditions, ' Learning to
Live Well' by taking control of their own health and wellbeing by
finding out about the information and support that already exists
to help them to self care. Visit the
NHS Choices website for more
information.
What is your health, your
way?
'Your health, your way' will provide
people living with long term conditions all the information they
need in one place about their rights to greater choice around self
care support. '
The national 'Your health, your way - a guide to long term
conditions and self care' was launched on NHS Choices on
the 2nd November 2008.
In Worcestershire we have produced our own web pages to
show you what is available locally under the five areas of
your health your way:
You can access the DH web pages with a leaflet on living well
with a long term condition and a self care toolkit to download on
the
Department of Health website.
You can also access information on self care on the
NHS Choices webpages.
In addition to information about self care we have also included
some information about Personalised Care Planning
which NHS Worcestershire will be introducing over the next couple
of years. Personalised care planning and self care are interlinked
and work together to support people to manage their long term
condition.
What is self care?
Self care is...
...about people taking responsibility for their own health and
well-being. It includes staying fit and healthy, taking action to
prevent illness and accidents, using medicines effectively,
treating minor ailments appropriately, and seeking professional
help when necessary.
When you have a long term condition self care means looking
after yourself and your general health - so you can manage your
life and not just your condition. For example taking medicines
properly, doing exercise or seeing friends.
You don't have to do this alone; there is lots of support
available to help you.
Self care support is...
...about supporting people in the decisions they make to manage
their long term condition. It is also about offering individuals
the right information and support at the right time, and empowering
them to take a more active role in their health and well-being in
order to improve their quality of life.
Self care is an integral part of daily life and is all about
individuals taking responsibility for their own health and
well-being with support from the people involved in their care.
Self care includes the actions people take for themselves every day
in order to stay fit and maintain good physical and mental health,
meet their social and psychological needs, prevent illness or
accidents, and care more effectively for minor ailments and long
term conditions.
People living with a long term condition can benefit enormously
from being supported to self care. They can live longer, have less
pain, anxiety, depression and fatigue, have a better quality of
life and be more active and independent.
Benefits to patients
- better symptom management, such as reduction in pain, anxiety,
depression and tiredness
- improved feeling of well being
- increase in life expectancy
- improvement in quality of life with
- greater independence
Society is changing. People want more information, choice and
control over their lives and this is no different for health. The
public's attitude to looking after their own health is beginning to
change. There is a shift towards independence and there is a range
of personalised choices for patients and various options of
provider agencies. Patients and the public have said that they want
more support to self care.
Last updated on 30 March 2012