ABSTRACT
Living with an LTC impacts on individuals in a number of ways, ranging from increased visits to the hospital/GP and dealing with complex medical regimes, to financial difficulties and social isolation from friends and family. A BMJ (2000, p. 526) editorial sums up the difference between acute and chronic disease as follows:
With acute disease the treatment aims to return to normal. With chronic disease, the patient’s life is irreversibly changed. Neither the disease nor its consequences are static. They interact to create illness patterns requiring continuous and complex management.
