Long Term Conditions Case Study

Long term conditions (LTC), or chronic illnesses, are life changing and have a major impact on people’s lives. People have to learn how to cope with the long-term disease, which is incurable, progressive and can exacerbate if the patient does not take care of themselves properly. (World health organisation, 2016 )“Non-communicable diseases (NCSs), also known as chronic diseases, are not passed from person to person. They are of long duration and generally slow progression”. This means that long-term conditions are not contagious, however they are lifelong. People involved with the patient directly or indirectly will have to cope with the impact of the disease as well, because the disease will continue to be an underlying issue. This can lead …show more content…
Stigmas are negative views shared by a wider community in society. Stigmas determine how an individual with a long term condition interacts within their family and community. How a family and community view the long term condition can impact on how a sufferer will interact with them. According to (Earnshaw & Quinn, 2012), “people living with chronic illnesses anticipate stigma and expect that others will devalue them based on their chronic illness”. Individuals with LTC expect that they will not be recognised for their potential but rather seen for what they are unable to do. This socially impacts individuals with long term conditions because their self-esteem and confidence is damaged; they evade participation in family events or in the community because they want to avoid judgement and/or embarrassing themselves. The negative stigmas around long term conditions also have an economic impact on …show more content…
The New Zealand health strategy 2001 was put into place by the government of the time, to reduce health inequalities and to formulate a strategic plan on how best to combat community health issues that affect New Zealand. (Ministry of Health, 2001) “Identifies the government’s priority areas and aims to ensure that health services are directed at those areas that will ensure the highest benefits for our population, focusing in particular on tackling inequalities in health”. It could be determined that the ministry of health main focus is bridging the gaps around health disparities for New Zealanders; in regards to population health. Engaging district health boards (DHB) to allocate funds to primary health care providers and organisations to target high risk