Abstract

With an increase in the older population, higher levels of multimorbidity and changes in the care landscape (e.g. specialisation, fragmentation), there is a need for greater insight into how suffering from two or more major chronic conditions affects patient experience of, and navigation through, the health and social care system. This study aims to gain an understanding of what information is available in the literature regarding care system navigation in the setting of older people with multimorbidity. A scoping review through five electronic databases was conducted together with a review of the grey literature on this topic. This resulted in an in-depth analysis of 47 selected papers, from which 12 papers were of particular relevance. Limited literature is available on experiences of older people with multimorbidity navigating the care system. The few studies that we found revealed that patients were expected to find their own way, learning by experience, rather than having a system to help them navigate their care.