Supporting you to self-care and work in partnership with your healthcare team…

Self-care is about you working with your healthcare team to stay as well as possible.  It is about you having and using the skills, knowledge and confidence to help us look after you.  This is really important, because people who take an active role in managing their health tend to have fewer health problems.   

This is especially relevant for those who have a long term health condition.  A long-term condition (sometimes called a ‘chronic’ disease) is any illness which cannot be cured, is life-long, and can go through phases when it is better or worse.  It is estimated that most people with such conditions spend less than 1% of their time with a healthcare professional, so it is vital that this group have an idea of the difference they can make to their own health.
 
This section of our website provides information and tools to support people to self-care.  We hope you find it useful.
 
If you are keen to get involved in the work your local NHS is doing to support people to self-care, please contact Ali Connolly (Alison.connolly@northeastessex.nhs.uk, or telephone: 01206 288500). 
 

Wellbeing Star

The Well-being Star™ is designed to help you think about all the different things that impact on your well-being.  The tool takes a broader view than just looking at your symptoms because it includes other things such as money, whether you feel positive and whether where you live is having an impact on your health.
 
There are different sections to the tool: a quiz, the star diagram, the action plan, and sign-posting sheets.  You will find links to these below which you can open and print off.   There are also instructions of how to use the Star. 

Quiz

Star diagram and action plan

Signposting Sheets

How to use the Well-being Star™

If you would like support to complete the Well-being Star™ and/or think about what you might do to better manage your well-being, please register your interest by emailing personalhealthplanning@northeastessex.nhs.uk or calling 01206 286732.  You can also use these contact details if you are unable to print the documents and would like hard-copies sent to you.

Preparing for an appointment

To get the most out of the time you spend with your healthcare team, it is important to plan, plan, plan!  Your appointment is where you have the chance to talk to your healthcare professional about your condition, how you are feeling and things that are worrying you.  It is good to spend time thinking about the main questions you want to ask and if there have been any changes in your symptoms.  You might like to write these down and take them to the appointment with you, along with a list of your medication.  By planning ahead, it will help you to get what you want out of the appointment time and hopefully stop you coming away wishing you had remembered to discuss something. 

You can use this guide to help you plan.

NHS Choices

NHS Choices is a brilliant one-stop-shop website for all manner of health information.  It is the national website of the NHS created to ensure people have access to reliable, up to date and easy-to-find information.  Go to the website to find details of local services, for the opportunity to read and leave comments on your experience of healthcare, for information on hundreds of conditions and lots more.

View NHS choices website.

View NHS choices Self Care information.