What is a long-term condition?
A long-term condition is an illness that cannot be cured. The illness may be controlled by medicines and other care. Long-term conditions need management over many years. (Rough et al 2025). Long-term conditions are very common and there are many different long-term conditions. They include diseases that cannot be passed from one person to another. Examples include stroke, heart and circulatory diseases, lung diseases, diabetes, mental health problems and arthritis. They can also include illnesses that can be passed between people, such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). People can often have more than one long-term condition. (Rough et al 2025).
Facts
- In 2019, almost 1 in 6 people were living with a major illness. (Watt et al 2023)
- It is thought that 14.8% of people in England live with two or more long-term conditions. (Valabhji et al 2023)
- Over 8 million people in the UK aged 16 to 64 report they have a long-term condition that limits them in work. (Health Foundation 2023)
- In the UK, the number of days lost to sickness for people with a long-term condition is 104.9 million days per year. (Office for National Statistics 2022)
- When an employee who earns £25,000 or more leaves their job, it costs a business about £30,614 to replace them. Most of this money is lost because a new employee needs time to learn the job (£25,181). The rest (£5,433) is spent on finding and training the new person. (Oxford Economics 2023)
These facts show us why it is important to keep people healthy in work.