Nearly half Spain's population suffers chronic medical problems, but expats praise national health system's 'unusual' efficiency
Friday, November 14, 2014 @ 7:03 PM
A TOTAL of 20 million people in Spain suffer chronic health conditions – nearly half the population, medics revealed at a conference in Logroño (La Rioja) this week.
The session, attended by doctors, nurses and social workers from all over the country, revealed that 70% of the over-65s have an average of four conditions running concurrently.
Partly powered by Fresenius Medical Care and international drug companies Pfizer and Novartis, the conference explained the importance of ensuring all levels of patient care were completely up to date with each person's clinical history so that those with chronic health problems could be treated effectively by their local GP surgery, any hospital department, social services, and any other organisation involved.
And the seminar leaders explained the importance of helping patients to manage their own conditions with supervision from doctors, by encouraging communication, coordination between professionals and listening to patients rather than simply giving them advice or instructions.
Chronic conditions cover a huge range of greater or lesser severity – including heart problems, brain damage following strokes or haemorrhages, kidney or liver problems, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, sometimes referred to in the vernacular as 'being broken-winded').
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com