§ Dr. MurrisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the implications of the Expert Patients Programme for the UK. [184566]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe implications of setting up an expert patients programme in the United Kingdom were assessed by the expert patients taskforce set up in 2000. It concluded that such a programme had the potential to create a cadre of expert patients—people who have the confidence, skills, information and knowledge to play a central role in the management of life with chronic diseases and to minimise the impact of disease on their lives. From the evidence base available it also concluded that the tangible benefits would include
reduced severity of symptoms;significant decrease in pain;improved life control and activity;improved resourcefulness and life satisfaction.A copy of the report can be found at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/ PublicationspolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidanceArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4006801&chk = UQCoh9
An independent evaluation of the programme is being conducted by the national primary care research and development centre at the University of Manchester and the centre for health economics at the University of York. A copy of their report of a preliminary survey of patients to identify barriers to establishing functional self-management programmes in the National Health Service can be found at: http://www.nperdc.man.ac.uk/ PublicationDetail.cfm?ID = 105