Long Term Conditions (LTC) are health conditions that can impact on a person’s life, and may require ongoing care and support. We organise appointments and provide support for people who have an LTC by putting in place a way of working called ‘Care and Support Planning’.
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Diabetes are examples of long-term conditions that will ensure you are invited for your annual review.
What is care and support planning?
This way of working aims to give you the opportunity to get more out of your annual review appointments by reorganising the way things happen and giving you more information before you see one of our Nurses. It should help you talk about:
- What support you may need
- What is important to you
- What you can do to look after your health and stay well
Who is it for?
Any patient who has a Long Term Condition (LTC).
The Benefits
This way of working is nearly always preferred by patients. It will help both you and our Nurse make the best use of the time you have in your care and support planning appointment. All the important tests and results needed at your appointment will be available for discussion at your second appointment.
What does this mean for me?
This means that your care and support planning review will take place over two separate appointments and you will have time to think about what you want to get out of these visits.
How will I be invited for my Long Term Condition appointments?
We will normally invite you for your review appointment once a year in or around the month of your birth. For example, if you were born in June, we will normally invite you to attend your review appointment at some point during June each year.
We have now changed our system for inviting patients for these appointments to hopefully make the process as easy as possible. If we have your mobile phone number, we will normally text you to tell you the date(s) of your review appointments. You will be given the opportunity to change your appointment if the original date and time is not convenient. If we do not have your mobile phone number, we will normally write to you to provide the same information.
What happens at the first appointment?
At the first appointment, you will be asked to attend the surgery to have a number of tests done with a Practice Nurse or Healthcare Assistant. The tests may include a blood test (non-fasting), weight, blood pressure and, if you’re diabetic, a foot check. The Practice Nurse or Healthcare Assistant will either book your next appointment which will be with one of our Nurses, or ask you to arrange this appointment with the Reception desk.
What happens next?
Your test results from this appointment will be available when you attend to see the Nurse. The results of this test will be discussed with the Nurse and any appropriate action taken.
What happens at the care and support planning appointment?
At your care and support planning appointment you will be able to ask questions and talk about what’s important to you. The Nurse will raise any issues she is concerned about. Once you both agree on the main things to work on, you will get the chance to work out a plan and identify any support you need to help you look after your health.