Alleviating the health system burden with self-management

Drug developers and prescribing clinicians can only get so far: after a certain point, the patient must take responsibility for the treatment they have been issued. Self-management within the health services is a key way to alleviate the burden on over-stretched health services, such as the UK’s.

Self-management, especially in patients with long-term conditions, can improve outcomes, patient experience and cost savings for health systems. It increases access for patients by releasing appointments for those who need to be seen in the clinic, improves treatment compliance and can promote the collection of real-world data.

US drugmaker AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) has launched an initiative to explore supported self-management in the UK’s health system via its initiative, the AbbVie Knowledge Network. A report commissioned by the network makes recommendations that, if implemented, it claims could contribute to the £20 billion ($32 billion) of efficiency savings the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is required to make by 2015.