Active Public Health & Healthcare Mental Health

Understanding the lived experiences and support needs of minoritised ethnic people with multiple long-term conditions

Funder Wellcome Charity-funded
Recipient organisation City St George's, University of London
Funding £294K
Period Sept 2025 — Sept 2027

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

Minoritised ethnic people in the UK who live with two or more long-term health conditions—such as diabetes, heart disease, and depression—are being asked to draw maps of their lives. Researchers will interview patients, carers, community leaders, and healthcare professionals in London, Coventry, and Manchester, using narrative interviews and journey mapping to capture how these individuals understand, manage, and seek support for their multiple conditions. This matters because previous research has already documented stark ethnic inequalities in the prevalence, quality of care, and support for people with multiple long-term conditions. Yet almost nothing is known about what these patients themselves need to improve their health outcomes. Without that knowledge, healthcare systems risk designing support that misses the mark. If this study succeeds, it will produce a detailed, patient-led blueprint for how the NHS and local services should change—from how clinicians communicate to how care is coordinated across specialties. The findings could reshape primary care protocols, training for healthcare professionals, and national policy on managing multiple long-term conditions in ethnically diverse populations.

View original technical description
The aim of this study is to advance understanding and transform how healthcare providers construct, respond to, and support minoritised ethnic people with multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs) in local and national contexts. Research in which I have recently been involved has identified ethnic inequalities in the prevalence, impact, care quality, experience of primary care, and support to manage conditions for people with MLTCs living in the UK. Yet, we know little about what is needed to improve health outcomes for this population. To address this gap, this study will use narrative interviews and journey mapping guided by an intersectionality framework to produce an in-depth understanding of the experiences and challenges of managing MLTCs from the perspective of minoritised ethnic people with MLTCs, carers, community leaders, healthcare professionals and policymakers in London, Coventry and Manchester. Particularly, the project will (1)explore how minoritised ethnic people with MLTCs and their carers understand and conceptualise MLTCs, (2)identify the range of needs, views and circumstances that influence their management of MLTCs, (3)identify how they want to be supported to manage MLTCs (4)examine the processes preventing/enabling healthcare professionals to adequately support them (5)identify the system changes required to support them to adequately manage their conditions

View the original record at the funder ↗

Researchers

Brenda Hayanga (EPMC Awardee)

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Original classification

Wellcome Accelerator Awards

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.