Experiences of patients with limiting long-term conditions

There is evidence that strategies to engage, support and empower people with long-term conditions have an important role in improving health outcomes. Surveys show that people with long-term conditions want to be involved in decisions about their care, and they want access to information to help them make those decisions. They also want to be given support to help them self-manage their condition. This type of support is equally important during hospital episodes, since adequate preparation for returning home after discharge can be crucial to promote recovery and independent living. However, little is known about the hospital experiences of people with LTCs.

Aim and Methods

Strand 1: The experience of patient with long term conditions in hospital

We plan to analyse data from a national survey to examine reports from patients with one or more limiting long-term conditions (LLTCs) and compare them with those of patients without LLTCs. The aim is to determine how the hospital experiences of patients with limiting long-term conditions compare to those without such conditions.

We will analyse data from the 2011 national inpatient survey to compare the experiences of three groups of patients: those with no limiting long-term conditions (No-LLTC), those with one limiting long-term condition (S-LLTC), and those with two or more limiting long-term conditions (M-LLTC). A short form scale (Oxford Patient Involvement and Experience – OxPIE) will be created from the questionnaire items and used to compare the groups using logistic regression.

Timing and Outputs

This study will be conducted in the early part of Phase II. A report and journal article are the planned outputs.

Research Team

Angela Coulter, Paul Hewitson, Crispin Jenkinson