Declare your care: long-term conditions

Declare Your Care is a year-long, campaign focusing on four key population groups which we know have lower awareness of CQC.

There are around 15 million people in England have a long-term condition – and this is rising. Most people are receiving good care yet more could be done to support effective pathways for people with long-term conditions. This helps prevent health problems from escalating and avoids hospital admissions.

New research shows that people with a long-term condition are among the highest users of services. Yet they do not always feel they have a voice.

Key findings for people with a long-term condition

People affected by long-term health conditions:

• 88% who felt they had poor care did not complain as they were concerned they would be seen as a trouble-maker
• did not complain about poor health care because:
  • did not think it would make any difference
  • did not know how
  • feared they would not be taken seriously
• 33% said that having more information about the standards of care to expect would encourage them to express a concern
• 81% of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) regretted not making a complaint about poor care

When people did raise a concern or complaint, most found:

• the issue was resolved quickly
• it helped the service improve
• they were happy with the outcome.

What to do about poor care