'Self care' has been an NHS England initiative since 2014 where people are encouraged to take more control of their health including self-treatable conditions, long term conditions, and lifestyle choices to ensure better physical health and mental wellbeing.
It's about understanding when you can look after yourself, when a pharmacist can help, and when to get advice from your GP or other health professional.
It's a great initiative – no one wants to wait in A&E unnecessarily for 6 hours – but are their 'supported self-management' plans trickling down to the likes of you and me?
I certainly hadn't heard of 'self care' until I got quite deep into researching my care packs, but I have been feeling for a number of years now (since my mother got diagnosed with Lymphoma) that self-care was increasingly necessary due to an overstretched NHS.
There is a mountain of really good NHS information available, but it seems to mainly be online and scattered in so many places. To really get to understand a symptom or illness it takes weeks of online searches, which few are likely to complete.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/2018/11/speaking-up-in-support-of-self-care/
https://www.england.nhs.uk/personalisedcare/supported-self-management/