Long Term Conditions

The LTCs research group aims to understand the experience, needs and responses of people and families living with long term conditions and/or multi-morbidity at all vital stages; and to develop and implement complex and innovative tools and interventions to improve their quality of life in the community, with a special emphasis on deprived populations. Through the Applied Research Collaboration Wessex we are looking at ways to foster integrated care and person-centred approaches and to optimise healthy living for people with LTCs. In particular, our research puts especial emphasis on exploring and enhancing the process of living with LTCs, and determining the influence of different factors in the process like social support, treatment burden, multi-morbidity, community or digital resources and networks. We propose models that could enable health and quality of life and the mobilisation of resources in the community for people living with LTCs and families. Looking for commonalities across LTCs we are prioritising the development and implementation of care pathways that could foster better living with LTCs while we learn from good practice in the UK and across countries. Our national and international research is connecting practice and policy priorities across LTCs to create an effective platform for policy development and service innovation, and for better quality/safety of care and quality of life of people with non-communicable conditions and family carers.