Joining up care offers relief for people managing long-term illness

People managing long-term illness reported fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety after psychological and social support was brought into their usual hospital care. A newly published London study offers encouraging evidence for treating these difficulties together.

The Three Dimensions of Care service worked across five clinics in Lambeth and Southwark. It combined therapy, psychiatric care and practical help with housing, benefits or isolation for people with heart failure, chronic lung disease or difficult-to-control blood pressure.

It built on an earlier King’s College London diabetes model, which recognised that worries about housing or employment can undermine someone’s ability to manage illness.

In the new evaluation, average depression scores fell from 16.9 to 13.2 over six months. The data came from 2017–18, and only 48 of 77 participants receiving the service completed follow-up. Without random allocation, the study cannot establish that the service caused the improvement.

Still, the findings support a useful direction: care that considers someone’s everyday pressures alongside the condition on their medical record.

Sources

• Nadal and colleagues — Evaluation of Three Dimensions of Care
• King’s College London — The earlier diabetes care model