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Foreword
Our health is a precious gift.
Yet most of us simply take it for
granted and the issue only arises
when we fall ill. If people were
more involved in looking after their
own health, they would be far more
able to help themselves to deal
with long-standing illnesses.
The Government’s White Paper
Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation,
published in July 1999, sets out
plans for an Expert Patients programme
designed to encourage people to
do just that. People with chronic
illnesses are often in the best
position to know how to cope, says
the White Paper.
It is clear that the doctor –
patient relationship is changing
and has to change further. The old
‘doctor knows best’ approach
is disappearing fast and being replaced
with the doctor - patient partnership.
Whether the pendulum swings beyond
this to patients having the upper
hand has yet to be seen.
The key to becoming an expert patient
is information. The sheer volume
of health information available
is a daunting prospect even for
the specialist, let alone the average
GP. For the medically untrained,
some of it is often impossibly hard
to read.
And being an expert patient
is not a soft option. It means taking
responsibility. It means knowing
the potentially bad as well as the
potentially good. Voluntary Health
Organisations and Patient Groups
provide enormous support to people
with long-standing illnesses and
play a increasing and vital role
in spreading knowledge and personal
involvement in improving health.
As more and more health information
becomes available to the general
public through the media and the
internet, it is inevitable that
the old order will have to change.
The expert patient will have a greater
interest in his or her health and
in making sure that treatment is
tailored to individual circumstances.
The eventual outcome should mean
that doctors will have to devote
less time to handing out instructions
and more to making essential clinical
decisions.
Patients have a right to the best
treatment available. But they also
have a duty to establish a good
relationship with their doctor.
This report includes a Patient’s
Code which suggests how to overcome
problems of communication between
patients and doctors. It is a brief
list of recommendations that are
intended to achieve better understanding.
The Government’s programme
is a step in the right direction.
It is not about Patient Power, nor
is it about Doctor Power. Its objective
is to help people to help themselves,
helped by the boundless opportunities
of the information revolution. This
report,The Expert Patient, looks
at some of the issues in detail
and suggests possible ways forward.
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