About 7 million people in the UK live with more than one health condition. It can often be difficult for those people to get the right care they need, with health care being designed around treating one condition at a time.
A team of researchers from different professions (nursing, allied health professionals and medicine) across several universities (Southampton, Plymouth, Manchester, Oxford) have been given £2.47m funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to find out what common issues exist for people living with more than one condition and to find solutions.
The research project will work with people living with multiple health conditions and existing health and social care services to design ways to support these people. One idea is to include a detailed assessment of a person’s needs, and to have one ongoing person that they can turn to for support with navigating and accessing various care services.
This idea will be tested in trial involving 500 people across four sites and if it works, the team will explore how to make the intervention a normal part of practice once the study ends.
A key element of this research is to focus on groups of people who have often been under-served by health and social care (for example, people from low income, ethnic minority, and non-English speaking groups).
Research Context
Over 7 million people in the UK are living with multiple long-term conditions (MLTC-M). The complexity of MLTC-M care, coupled with rising costs and fragmentation within care systems, requires MLTC-M care to be personalised, sustainable and coordinated across health, social and voluntary care services.
Current care pressures can result in individuals with MLTC-M broader needs relating to social engagement, mobility and mental health and wellbeing being neglected. To improve health and well-being for those with MLTC-M, the CO-ACTION programme will adopt a bio-psychosocial approach, moving away from condition-specific care.
The CO-ACTION programme and notes
The CO-ACTION personalised, multisectoral intervention will be developed and evaluated over 54 months from September 2024. The team, comprising researchers, clinicians, Patient and Public leaders from diverse and underrepresented disciplines, national Applied Research Collaborations and Integrated Care Boards, is set to advance the field of multiple long-term conditions management (MLTC-M). It has been funded by the NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research (NIHR PGfAR). This work is supported by the NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) Wessex, Greater Manchester and South West Peninsula.
Joint-principal investigators Dr Dorit Kunkel and Professor Mari Carmen Portillo from the University of Southampton lead this initiative, bringing together experts in MLTC-M research from Plymouth, Oxford, Manchester, and Leeds. This diverse team brings a wealth of methodological expertise, positioning them to successfully deliver the CO-ACTION programme.
For further details, please contact: Dr Dorit Kunkel (email: dh197@soton.ac.uk) or Professor Mari Carmen Portillo (email: m.c.portillo-vega@soton.ac.uk
Notes to Editors
The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:
Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care;
Investing in world- class expertise, facilities and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services;
Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities, improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research;
Attracting, training and supporting the best researchers to tackle complex health and social care challenges;
Collaborating with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;
Funding applied global health research and training to meet the needs of the poorest people in low- and middle-income countries.
NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in low- and middle-income countries is principally funded through UK international development funding from the UK government.
The CO-ACTION research programme is funding by Programme Grants for Applied Research (PGfAR) which funds collaborative, multidisciplinary programmes of applied research to solve health and social care challenges.
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