Personalised care is all about what matters most to people and their individual circumstances. We know from talking to patients that a ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work well and that most patients welcome the opportunity to have more control over their own health and wellbeing.
If you have to wait longer for a planned care procedure, there will be a self-care approach that works for you – a way of managing your health condition that temporarily meets your needs and fits in with your lifestyle. The information and advice you’re given to help you manage your condition at home will help you look after your physical and mental health while you wait for treatment.
Physical health
In the run up to having surgery, there are things you can do to get ready. If you’re in good health you’re more likely to recover better after surgery, have fewer complications and get the maximum benefit from your treatment. Making lifestyle improvements in the following areas can make a real difference to your outcome from surgery and for your health and wellbeing in general.
For those who don’t smoke, the risk of serious complications from having surgery is reduced. In addition, non-smokers are more likely to spend less time in hospital after surgery than smokers.
If you’re a smoker who wants to quit, there are many different online support services to help you including NHS Smokefree which offers a free personal quit plan.
The NHS website has six practical, quick and simple steps you can take right now to quit smoking. And there’s the annual Stoptober campaign which has loads of information and support around quitting. It offers a range of free tools including the Stoptober App, SMS and email support, and the local stop smoking service search facility.
Different treatments to help smokers quit are available from shops, pharmacies and on prescription to help you beat the addiction, reduce withdrawal symptoms and improve your health.
Being very overweight increases the risk of developing musculoskeletal or ‘MSK’ conditions which are health problems related to muscles, joints and bones. Maintaining a healthy weight and being physically active can have significant benefits if you’re waiting for a planned care procedure, particularly if that procedure is for a joint replacement.
Excess weight can also lead to a number of serious and potentially life-threatening conditions including coronary heart disease, some types of cancer such as breast cancer and bowel cancer, and stroke. If you’re carrying excess weight you may find that it affects your quality of life. For some people, being really overweight can lead to psychological problems such as depression and low self-esteem.
To help tackle excess weight, the NHS launched its Better Health campaign which has a free 12-week weight loss plan to help people develop healthier eating habits, become more active and start losing weight.
But it’s not all about weight loss, eating a balanced diet helps fight infection. And for people undergoing surgery, it improves wound healing and reduces muscle weakness and tiredness during recovery.
Drinking too much alcohol may slow a patient’s recovery and make getting an infection more likely. The One You ‘Drink Less’ website has information about alcohol units and guidelines, top tips for cutting down and details about local support services.
Adults should do some type of physical activity every day to increase strength, reduce breathing issues and build up stamina.
There's strong scientific evidence that being physically active can help you lead a healthier and happier life and if you need to have surgery, it can help to speed up your recovery.
The NHS ‘live well’ website has these physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64.
If you have diabetes and are due to have a planned care procedure, you’ll be advised to try and keep your blood sugar levels within the limits recommended by your healthcare professional. Poorly controlled diabetes can be a serious concern during surgery so please talk to your clinical team in the weeks leading up to your surgery if you have any concerns.
Many people who have musculoskeletal or ‘MSK’ conditions related to muscles, joints and bones get aches and pains of varying degrees. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) has a range of pain management resources to help patients manage their MSK condition at home.
MSK conditions often respond really well to physiotherapy. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many physiotherapy services were unavailable but some of what they offer, such as exercises that include muscle strengthening and stretching, can be done at home.
- ESCAPE-Pain (Enabling Self-management and Coping with Arthritic Pain using Exercise) has a series of exercise videos for knees and hips that you can do at home.
- These exercise advice leaflets developed by Versus Arthritis and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy offer exercise and advice to help relieve common conditions such as knee pain, shoulder pain and back pain.
- Live Well with Pain has lots of useful information and resources, including leaflets and videos, to help you manage your pain and get on with your life.
- The Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust website has this useful information for MSK patients. It includes guidance on what you can do whilst waiting for a planned care procedure, along with self-help links and resources.
The First Contact Physiotherapists (FCP) scheme has physiotherapists based in GP surgeries as a first point of contact for people with MSK conditions. This scheme is currently up and running in Airedale, Bradford, Calderdale, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Leeds and Wakefield where FCPs are using telephone and video appointments to support their patients during the pandemic.
Mental health, learning disability and autism
Poor mental health often impacts on physical health which can affect a patient’s fitness for undergoing a planned care procedure, particularly surgery.
If you’re scheduled to go into hospital for a planned care procedure, or living with an ongoing medical condition or illness, there are many resources that can help you prepare yourself mentally. The NHS website has these five steps that people can take to improve their mental health and wellbeing.
Going into hospital can be a worrying time for anyone but it can be particularly worrying and stressful for someone with a learning disability. This guidance ‘Preparing a person with a learning disability for hospital’ can help to minimise the stress and make their hospital stay go smoothly.