Chapters
Our JSNA chapters consider the current and future health and social care needs of specific topics.
You can download the following topic-specific chapters as accessible Word documents:
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD)
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Suicide prevention.
Context
About 2,300 Medway residents die each year and around a third of these deaths are premature (aged under 75 years). Therefore, it is important to continuously improve healthcare to not only improve quality of life, but to prevent early death too.
The leading causes of illness and early death in Medway include:
- cancer
- circulatory disease (for example, heart attack, stroke and heart failure)
- respiratory disease.
These conditions share many common risk factors, such as smoking and obesity.
Over recent decades, improved health care and public health measures, such as reductions in smoking, have led to a dramatic decrease in the number of deaths from the leading causes. Early diagnosis is also important to improve outcomes in some diseases by providing care at the earliest possible stage.
Most people with long-term health conditions have a single condition that can be managed at relatively low cost. However, as people age, they are more likely to experience several conditions at the same time. As the number and severity of these conditions increases, the complexity and cost of managing them becomes much greater. Addressing these conditions requires well-integrated health and social care system.