The Self-Management Checklist: What to Do and What to Skip
Self-Management: what is worth doing, what is worth avoiding, and when to stop and see a doctor.
The day-to-day decisions a person makes about their own condition. A person with a long-term condition spends a few hours a year with clinicians and the rest managing it themselves.
Key takeaways
- Structured education: available for several conditions and consistently under-used
- Written action plan: recommended for asthma, COPD and several others
- Most useful single change: Ask for structured education; it is offered and rarely taken up.
- Commonest mistake: Waiting for appointments to make decisions your plan already covers.
- See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to speak to a doctor" below apply to you.
Do
- Ask for structured education; it is offered and rarely taken up
- Get a written action plan and keep it accessible
- Track the measure that matters for your condition
Do not
- Waiting for appointments to make decisions your plan already covers
- Changing treatment without the plan or advice
The numbers behind the list
Those two lists follow from the published figures here.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Structured education | available for several conditions and consistently under-used |
| Written action plan | recommended for asthma, COPD and several others |
| Personalised care planning | part of NHS long-term condition management |
| Self-monitoring | improves control in several conditions |
If you change one thing
Ask for structured education; it is offered and rarely taken up. That is the opening item above. Doing only that is still doing something.
Where to go next
- Self-Management: What Published Guidance Supports
- Why Self-Management Matters, Explained Simply
- Self-Management — the reference entry
- What the Guidance Really Says About Annual Reviews
- What the Guidance Really Says About Fatigue in Long-Term Illness
When to speak to a doctor
Follow the red-flag section of your own action plan, which is specific to your condition. Seek urgent help for any symptom your plan names, or for a change that your plan does not cover. Call 999 for chest pain, severe breathlessness or signs of stroke.
Where this comes from
How this page was put together
Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarised or generalised beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.
Medical disclaimer
This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to a GP, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 999.
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