The Health Guide

Chronic condition

A long-term condition needing ongoing management rather than a course of treatment that ends.

Insurers use the term for conditions that continue indefinitely, come back, or need regular monitoring, supervision or relief of symptoms. Private medical insurance normally funds diagnosis of a chronic condition and any acute flare-up that can be brought back under control, then hands ongoing management to the NHS. Definitions differ between insurers, so two policies can treat the same situation differently. For clinical information about any condition, use the NHS website or a condition charity.

Guides that use this term