Long-term conditions. A guide for nurses and healthcare professionals

What was it like?

This great book seems to have covered long-term conditions from every perspective with an easy to follow index enabling you to find specific subjects without the need to search or read the whole book in one go.

What were the highlights? 

The book is divided into three sections covering living with a long-term condition, empowerment and care management with ten chapters all written by different authors or co-authors. This can mean that a book can seem disjointed when written in this way but this is not the case with this book because the same format and language is used with case studies including points for reflection, group work, references, a summary, conclusion, suggested further reading and resources.

Strengths & weaknesses:

The strengths of this book lie within the extensive references, which are listed at the end of each chapter rather than at the back of the book, making it more straight forward to trace original work and allowing the reader to explore areas of interest to them more easily.

I was pleased to see references to relevant NICE guidance, up to date treatments and equipment including telecare.

The section on end of life care is excellent and clearly describes all the tools available for staff to use including the Liverpool care pathway, the Gold Standards Framework and the preferred priorities for care.

My only disappointment in reading this book was the lack of any discussion of the advantages of working with voluntary organisations to provide shared care in true partnerships, for example Age UK, Crossroads or the British Red Cross. This aspect could easily have been included in the care management section and would have reminded readers of the wealth of care options provided by the voluntary sector.

Who should read it?

All healthcare professionals who treat or care for patients with long term conditions should read this book whether they are working in primary, secondary, tertiary care, for the NHS, a hospice, social services or a voluntary organisation.