By Kristian Dye

The case reported by Dunton et al comes from a very particular cultural context, and yet it demonstrates things that all practitioners see in almost all healthcare settings.

The patient reported is a 60 year old man with type 2 diabetes, who despite taking his medications, is unable to make the behaviour change that could impact the course of his disease.

The report looks at the complex nature of this phenomenon, that it is not as simplistic as ‘not wanting to change’, but that there are cultural and sociological issues at play.

The real question for clinicians across the globe for many long-term conditions is no longer how to treat them, but how to support patients to manage their own conditions.

What skills are most important for clinicians to facilitate the self-care that long-term conditions rely upon?