Cut treatment burden of multiple conditions - NICE
Thursday March 31st, 2016
Doctors should take steps to reduce the "burden" of multiple medicines faced by patients with multimorbidity, according to draft guidance published today in England.
The guidance will say that clinicians should stop treatment if it is of limited benefit.
They should also identify medicines with an increased risk of unwanted side effects, according to the draft guidance issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Clinicians can offer alternative, non-pharmacological treatment to some medicines, according to the guidance.
It also calls for new ways of making appointments for these patients so they do not end up with conflicting appointments for different conditions.
According to NICE, some 2.9 million people will have three or more long-term health conditions within two years. The cost of caring for these people averages some £7,700 a year.
Professor Bruce Guthrie, professor of primary care at Dundee University, chair of the guideline development group, said: "Care for people with multiple conditions is often complicated. This is because the conditions themselves and their treatments interact in complex ways, and care can be fragmented across many different specialists and services.
“General practice and other generalist services, like care of the elderly, have a crucial role in co-ordinating care through a person-centred rather than disease-focused perspective. The new draft guideline emphasises the importance of this perspective.”
Tags: Elderly Health | NHS | UK News
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