Community Transformation

The Community Transformation portfolio has three specific areas of work.

• Long Term Conditions (LTC)

A long term condition (LTC) can be defined as a ‘…health problem that requires ongoing management over a period of years or decades and is one that cannot currently be cured but can be controlled with the use of medication and/or other therapies’.

• Palliative and End of Life Care (P&EOLC)

Palliative care is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as an approach that improves the quality of life of patients (adults and children) and their families who are facing problems associated with life-limiting illness, usually progressive. It prevents and relieves suffering through the early identification, correct assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual.

In England, the term end of life care refers to the last year of life.

• Frailty

A person who is defined as frail is at high risk of adverse outcomes such as falls, immobility, delirium, incontinence, side effects of medication – and admission to hospital or the need for long term care. People with frailty can be vulnerable to dramatic and sudden changes in their health due to, for example, infection, medication change or a new environment.

The NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Wheelchair Service is also part of this portfolio.