The reasons behind this behavior are resolving bureaucratic issues (application of recipes, sick leave ...) and visits for minor illnesses. In addition, diagnostic and therapeutic advances have improved the early detection of chronic diseases, so that the health system has difficulty responding to this situation.

Family doctors appeal to the self responsibility for health through training and education of citizens to meet this challenge, which was one of the contents covered in the 30th Congress of the Spanish Society of Family Medicine and Community, closed the Friday in Valencia.

Currently, chronic diseases are the leading cause of health expenditure, which is a problem for the system that is designed to respond to the acute process. Sunday Orozco, vice president of semFYC, explained that "chronic diseases are diseases that last 20, 30 or 40 years and in which the patient requires a level of unnecessary information in other diseases, which implies a challenge for the professional" .

Another issue on the agendas of chronic patient care is the development of new technologies and channels of consultation (telephone or Internet) and the existence of newscasts that are scientifically validated.

The expert patient is a chronic patient who knows and understands his illness, which is responsible for their health and wants to be well informed. It also takes a proactive approach to adapt to the changes necessary to get a better quality of life.

The United States has been a pioneer in setting up programs Chronic Patient Care, which now begin to develop and implement in Europe. For Sunday Orozco, "the significant rate of attendance to the consultation" makes its presence in Spain, because it is a distinguishing feature with other surrounding countries.