Health & Long Term Conditions

The Challenge

Healthcare in the UK is in the midst of an historic transition. Shaped by the 19th and 20th century problems of contagious and acute disease, the National Health Service is now having to contend with a new upsurge of chronic medical conditions, brought about by demographic, environmental and life style changes. These include conditions such as diabetes, asthma, arthritis, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia and a range of disabling neurological conditions.

The rise of long term conditions is already putting strains on the NHS – the acute care of clong term conditions is a primary factor in the continued dominance of hospital spending in the NHS budget (60% in 2003) and the crowding out of long term investment in prevention (4% in 2002). Rising to this challenge will not be easy but it will also open up lots of scope for innovation and improvement, including imaginative uses of technology, new ways of empowering patients to take responsibility for their own health and new ways of thinking about the impact of the wider environment on peoples’ health.

Our view of this challenge was set out in more detail in a talk by Geoff Mulgan to the Association of British Insurers and our research paper: “Life Begins at 60: What kind of NHS after 2008?”

Basic Facts

  • 17.5 million Britons suffer from a chronic medical condition including 45% of the adult population.
  • In the UK, 3.5 million people are being treated for asthma, 1.8 million for diabetes and around 8 – 10 million are thought to have arthritis.
  • The NHS spends 80% of its budget on chronic conditions.
  • The direct costs attributable to long term sickness are estimated at £11.6bn, including provisions for sick pay, staff replacement and loss of productivity.

In its past incarnations under Michael Young, the Young Foundation played a key role in social innovation in many fields that are relevant to where health is now heading. It pioneered consumerism, for example setting up Which? / the Consumers Association in the 50s and the National Consumers’ Council in the 70s. It initiated new uses of technology to meet social needs including Open University and Language Line. Furthermore, it broke ground with new approaches to health – in particular the College of Health which paved the way for the Expert Patients Programme and Healthline, which paved the way for NHS Direct.

NESTA and the Young Foundation have established  Health Launchpad will continue this tradition by applying the Launchpad approach to the field of long term conditions by providing funding, social capital and entrepreneurial expertise to develop ideas into new ventures.