NHS Choices publishes long term conditions guides

A series of online NHS health guides for people with long term conditions has been launched on the NHS Choices website. The guides take patients from symptoms to diagnosis to living with and self-managing their condition.

Over the next year, NHS Choices will be rolling out more guides to cover the 60 most common long term conditions, giving people information to make their own choices and decisions about their treatment.

The first guides will be for diabetes, stroke, asthma, dementia, depression and heart disease.

Dr Bhupinder Mangat, a GP from Hounslow, said: "People come to my surgery with sheets of paper they've printed out from the internet, and they say: ‘I want what it says here.’

“I'd much prefer them to come in with sound information from NHS Choices. At least the discussion will be on a sound footing. That's really positive."

Health is the most researched subject on the internet, studies have found. The guides have been piloted by GPs, who agree the new information source will improve their consultations with patients, and save them time.

“Doctors and practice nurses can easily print off the information for patients, so that they can become more knowledgeable in their own time and own space,” said NHS Choices in a statement.

Dr Mangat tested the heart disease guide by asking patients with heart conditions to look at it. He said: "When they come back to me, they seem more positive. Helping patients understand their conditions is the first step towards treating it.

"Internet sites are neither a replacement nor an alternative to a doctor. But nothing is more valuable than a good education.”

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Understnading Asthma