Looking after yourself

Self care means looking after yourself and taking more responsibility for your health. Self care supports all levels of healthcare from leading a healthy lifestyle and preventing illnesses through to acute illness and the care of a long-term condition. Looking after yourself can include taking medicines correctly, exercising, eating healthily, managing stress and learning about your long-term condition.

Knowing about your long-term condition can really help and there is plenty of information available.

NHS Dorset has developed a booklet on self care ‘Some helpful thoughts’ written by a local GP Steve Tomkins giving some information on improving how you live with your long-term condition.

There are several different versions of the booklet available on this page.

• self care booklet
• 'Looking after Me' - self care children's guide
• self care booklet for older people
• easy read guide to self care

NHS Choices also has information on long-term conditions and how to look after yourself.

Patient's experiences

NHS Dorset are part of a national long term conditions programme, supporting people with long term conditions to improve their quality of life and clinical outcomes. To raise awareness of the importance of empowering people with long term conditions to maximise self care, NHS Dorset have produced two short films. These demonstrate how two people with a long term condition have been affected by their illness, the self management techniques they use and how being active participants in shared decision making about their care has helped them.

Firstly Bob, who describes his journey and in his own words ‘how he has reinvented himself to be a well man.’ He explains the self management toolkit he uses to support him through the darker moments and challenges of his condition.

Then Kim and John give us an insight into the personalisation agenda and how it has made a huge difference to their lives. They talk about the support they have received and the self management skills and tools they have developed to cope and move forward with their lives.

Both films are available from the useful websites menu on this page.