Tma02

“What are primary and secondary care services? And how are these defined?”

Primary Health care services, are services which are used as a first point of contact such as GPs, NHS DIRECT, NHS walk in centres, Opticians, Pharmacists, etc. These are all services which can be accessed without referral, meaning that anyone can choose to uses these services through their own accord. Secondary Healthcare services such as support groups, Diabetes clinics, Social Workers, etc. cannot be accessed in this way, to move on to uses these services it would be done through referral .for example being sent by your doctor to see a dietician at a local hospital, or a specialist.
There are many services that are available to people with long term health conditions, but some people may not need to access these and there are some who will use partial or all of them depending on their needs mentally, psychically, and emotionally etc. there are many factors which can determine if an individual requires or would benefit from different services.
Long term conditions, or chronic diseases as they tended to be referred to, are conditions that last a year or longer, impact on a person's life, and may require on-going care and support. The definition does not relate to any one condition, care group or age category, so it covers children as well as older people and mental as well as physical health issues. Common long term conditions include epilepsy, diabetes, some mental health problems, heart disease, chronic pain, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Scottish Government online (2009/Page updated: Thursday, December 03, 2009) Available at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/12/03112054/4 Accessed the 5th of December

I will be using the Anwar Malik case study (Unit 2, 1.3- Recognising illness, Anwar Malik begins to feel unwell) Open University 2010 pg71

Anwar Malik is a 54-year-old grocer, who lives with his wife Hansa...