Long Term Conditions

Long term conditions are chronic diseases or conditions for which there is currently no cure, and which are managed with medications and other treatments.

These conditions can generally last for a year or longer and may impact upon a person’s everyday life. 

Examples of long term conditions include:

  • Asthma
  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
  • Diabetes
  • Cardiovascular Disease – heart failure, hypertension, arterial disease

Everyone’s experience of living with a long-term condition is different. Pharmacists, GPs and health care professionals can offer specific advice and support if you do become unwell or are managing a long term condition. There’s also plenty of information and support available to help you to take care of yourself on a daily basis.

We continue to work across health and care to improve services and support for people with long term conditions. Long term conditions can impact many aspects of people lives including wellbeing and mental health.

For information about support available to you visit: Long term conditions on the Healthy Surrey website.

Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term that describes a disease of the heart or blood vessels.

There are many different types of CVD which occurs when the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle is blocked or reduced. These include:

  • Angina – chest pain caused by restricted blood flow to the heart muscle
  • Heart attacks – where the blood flow to the heart muscle is suddenly blocked
  • Heart failure – where the heart is unable to pump blood around the body properly.

High blood pressure can affect your arteries and your heart in a number of ways which are all interlinked. Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate.

Helpful links

 

Diabetes

Diabetes is a condition where your blood glucose level is too high. It can happen when your body doesn't produce enough insulin or the insulin it produces isn't effective, or when your body can't produce any insulin at all.

There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. What all types of diabetes have in common is that they cause people to have too much glucose (sugar) in their blood. We also need a hormone called insulin. It’s made by our pancreas, and it’s insulin that allows the glucose in our blood to enter our cells and fuel our bodies.

If you don’t have diabetes, your pancreas senses when glucose has entered your bloodstream and releases the right amount of insulin, so the glucose can get into your cells. But if you have diabetes, this system doesn’t work.

Treatment is about trying to keep blood sugars within a target range. Being as active as possible, eating healthily and maintaining healthy weight is an important factor in managing diabetes. Some people will also need to take insulin or other medication as well as checking their blood sugars regularly. 

Helpful links

Healthy Living programme for people with type 2 diabetes

Healthy Living is a free NHS online structured education programme designed to help patients learn more about and live well with type 2 diabetes. The easy-to-use programme includes information and advice about:

  • type 2 diabetes
  • eating well
  • becoming more active
  • how to look after your body and mind
  • other NHS services and support
  • living with diabetes, including driving, working and travelling.

Hybrid Closed Loops (HCL) for people living with type 1 diabetes

Hybrid closed loop systems (HCLs), also referred to as ‘artificial pancreases’, are devices that include an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). These devices use technology to automatically monitor and deliver the required amount of insulin simply and with ease. This helps to keep glucose levels within a desirable range for a person living with type 1 diabetes.

Roll-out in Surrey Heartlands - status May 2024 

NHS England has issued guidance for the roll-out of Hybrid Closed Loops (HCLs) for people living with type 1 diabetes. As soon as we receive further information, which includes confirmation of which HCL devices will be available through a national framework (and therefore what can be offered across Surrey Heartlands), we will work with health system partners to deliver devices through a phased approach   to eligible patients, using a fair and equitable process in line with national guidance from NHS England.

We want to support our patients in having an improved quality of life and increased flexibility in managing their diabetes, and we are committed to following the NICE and NHS England guidance. When we have an update on timelines we will communicate with patients and our health and care partners.

More information about HCLs can be found on the Diabetes UK website: Closed loop systems | Diabetes tech | Diabetes UK.

Respiratory disease (including asthma, COPD)

Respiratory disease affects one in five people, and we see an increase in admissions to hospital and visits to health care professionals during the winter months.

We want to enable early and accurate diagnosis of respiratory diseases and also support appropriate prescribing of medicines. Most of all, we want to support people to manage conditions and where possible put preventative practices in place. This extends to equipping people with the right advice and support to stop smoking.

Helpful links