The national service framework for long term conditions

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7503.1280

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Niruj Agrawal, consultant in neuropsychiatry (niruj.agrawal@swlstg-tr.nhs.uk),
Alex J Mitchell, consultant in liaison psychiatry

Department of Neuropsychiatry, St George's Hospital, London SW17 0QT
Leicester General Hospital, Leicester LE5 4PW

Aims to meet psychological, social, and emotional needs in neurological disorders

In March 2005 the UK Department of Health released the national service framework for long term conditions.1 This framework comprises 11 requirements for improving, over the next 10 years, the quality of health and social care services for people with long term neurological conditions: persistent brain disorders with a wide range of complex physical, social, and psychological complications. This document may go some way towards raising awareness of some of the greatest unmet needs in the NHS.

The burden of such conditions is huge. Fifteen years ago the World Health Organization showed that broadly defined neuropsychiatric disorders were the most important cause of disability worldwide.^w1 Some 10 million people across the United Kingdom have a neurological condition, and nearly 2 million care for someone with either a neurological or a mental health problem.^w2

Around half the patients with long term active neurological conditions in the …