Understanding the health care needs of people with multiple health conditions
November 2018
Key points
- Analysis of data from 2014 to 2016 for 300,000 people in England found that one in four adults had 2+ health conditions, equating to approximately 14.2 million people in England.
- Over half (55%) of NHS costs for hospital admissions and outpatient visits and over three quarters (75%) of the costs of primary care prescriptions were for people living with 2+ conditions
- In the least-deprived fifth of areas, people can expect to have 2+ conditions by the time they are 71 years old, but in the most-deprived fifth, people reach the same level of illness a decade earlier, at 61 years of age.
As the number of people with multiple health conditions grows, meeting their needs will be one of the biggest challenges facing the NHS. People with multiple conditions often have poorer quality of life and greater risk of premature death.
Read the full list of key points
People with multiple conditions often have a range of consultations and treatments which can often be overwhelming for them to manage and they may need substantial support. Resourcing primary care so GPs and nurses have the time to work together with patients to manage their conditions, and ensuring that hospital care has more coordination between specialties is also important to consider.
The research also demonstrates the importance of linking anonymised NHS data across primary and secondary care to gain greater insight into people’s care.
To improve care for people with multiple conditions it is critical that the NHS long-term plan identifies and addresses the complexity of their needs. The report sets out six steps the NHS could take to achieve this.
Further reading
Press release
People in most deprived areas of England develop multiple health conditions 10 years earlier than those in least deprived
People in the most deprived areas in England can expect to have two or more health conditions at 61...
Long read
Caring for older patients with complex needs
About 22 mins to read
How does the NHS in England compare with health care systems in 11 OECD countries?
You might also like...
Press release
Major study outlines wide health inequalities in England
Analysis from the Health Foundation's REAL Centre outlines wide health inequalities in England.
Event
Webinar: What does the future look like for the general practice workforce?
In this webinar, we explored the REAL Centre’s upcoming report on updated NHS workforce supply...
News
Efforts to improve decision making in mental and community health wins Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Healthcare Data Analytics
Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Healthcare Data Analytics 2022 award has been given to...
Work with us
We look for talented and passionate individuals as everyone at the Health Foundation has an important role to play.
View current vacanciesThe Q community
Q is an initiative connecting people with improvement expertise across the UK.
Find out more