Self-care: moving from aspiration to routine practice

 

As demand on the NHS continues to rise, supporting people to manage their own health effectively is becoming less of an aspiration and more of a necessity.

 

The Living Self-Care Survey, (a collaboration between the Self-Care Forum and the Self-Care Academic Research Unit at Imperial College London) involving more than 3,200 adults across the UK, provides useful insight into how the public views self-care and how these views compare with those of healthcare professionals. 

One of the most interesting findings is the gap between public confidence and professional perception. Nearly nine out of ten respondents reported feeling confident about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, while more than 90% believed they could manage common illnesses themselves.  

 

However, healthcare professionals consistently underestimated this confidence. This difference in perception is important because it influences how healthcare services are designed and how consultations are conducted. 

 

If professionals assume that people lack confidence or capability, consultations may focus on taking over decision-making rather than supporting patients to make informed decisions themselves. 

 

From a behavioural science perspective, this is significant, because behaviour change is often easier when it builds on behaviours that already exist. Most people already practise self-care every day, whether by managing common illnesses, choosing over-the-counter medicines, monitoring symptoms, or making decisions about diet, exercise and wellbeing.  

 

The challenge for healthcare professionals is therefore not necessarily to encourage self-care, but to improve the quality, safety and confidence of those decisions. This distinction has particular relevance for community pharmacy, because unlike many other parts of primary care, community pharmacy teams interact with people at the point where decisions are being made.  

 

This creates an opportunity to influence behaviour early, providing reassurance where appropriate while ensuring that signs requiring referral are recognised. 

 

The survey also reminds us that confidence should not be confused with health literacy. While respondents generally felt able to look after themselves, many reported uncertainty about interpreting health information, assessing the reliability of online advice and knowing when symptoms required professional assessment.  

 

Access to information has never been greater, yet identifying trustworthy information has become increasingly difficult. Pharmacists and pharmacy teams combine accessibility with professional expertise and consistently rank among the most trusted healthcare professionals.  

 

Every consultation, whether through Pharmacy First or to an over-the-counter recommendation, offers an opportunity to improve patients' understanding and confidence. 

 

The World Health Organization defines self-care broadly, encompassing health promotion, disease prevention, self-medication where appropriate, management of long-term conditions and informed decisions about when professional healthcare is needed. Seen in this way, self-care is not separate from healthcare services but an integral part of them. 

 

This broader perspective aligns closely with the ambitions of the NHS to shift from reactive treatment towards prevention and population health. However, achieving this shift requires more than public awareness campaigns. It requires self-care to become a routine element of every patient interaction, supported by consistent messages across the health system. 

 

For community pharmacy, this represents both an opportunity and a responsibility. Pharmacy teams already help thousands of people every day to make informed choices about their health.  

 

The next step is to view these interactions as opportunities to build people's capability and confidence to manage their own health in the future. The evidence suggests that the public is already willing to embrace self-care.

 

The challenge for healthcare professionals is to provide the information, reassurance and support that enables people to do so safely and effectively. 

Further reading

• The Living Self-Care Survey from the Self-Care Forum and the Self-Care Academic Research Unit at Imperial College London.
• The World Health Organization's guidance on self-care interventions for health.