Implementing Chronic Disease Self-Management Approaches in Australia and the United Kingdom

Most nations have responded to the current and projected burden of chronic illnesses by promoting patient centered care and self-management approaches (1). In the current paper, we focus on Australia and the UK where chronic illness has a major impact upon the burden of disease on individuals, society and its institutions, and the use of health services1. Thus of necessity, Australian and UK health policy, funding, and service delivery have a strong focus upon chronic disease and its treatment and prevention. It is noteworthy that both the UK and Australia fund individual health care costs through universal insurance paid from general taxation rather than via a user pays model and this strongly and positively impacts on service access and equity. Further, both countries’ policies on chronic disease management have been influenced by Wagner’s Chronic Care Model (3) and Lorig’s chronic disease self-management program (4).