Why staying well is hard work. Professor Carl May – Healthcare Innovation

Living with a serious long-term condition is often hard and complex work. My team and I are interested in finding ways to reduce complexity and lift the burden for people with these conditions, and their families, at end of life.

To help us think about the kind of research questions we should be asking we held a research forum at Freemantle Community Centre in Southampton. We invited people with a range of conditions to join us and to inform our work.

How networks add meaning to people living with long term health conditions – Dr Anne Kennedy

Improving the network of support for people with long term conditions is a more sustainable way to help than appealing to them to change their behaviour. Connections between people often encourage action and the use of the resources around them in a more meaningful way in their everyday lives.

At CLAHRC Wessex our flagship project is the implementation, across the region, of GENIE a web-based tool which is designed to assess and develop the support networks of people with long-term conditions. People can map their support networks and state their preferences and needs in order to link them to local organisations for health and well-being support.