SCOTLAND'S health system is failing to cope with the rising number of people living with multiple medical conditions, according to a new study.

Researchers from Dundee and Glasgow universities warned that the current focus on individual diseases means people living with several chronic conditions at once are often receiving "inefficient" care.

They studied the records of 1.75 million people in Scotland living with 40 chronic conditions and found almost one-quarter (23%) had two or more conditions. People living in the most deprived areas of the country developed several health problems – and so had multi-morbidity – up to 15 years earlier than those in the most affluent locations.

However, three professors – Bruce Guthrie, of primary care medicine at Dundee University, Stewart Mercer, of primary care research at Glasgow University, and Graham Watt, of general practice at Glasgow University – said existing services were not set up to deal with people with multiple conditions.

Instead, a patient's medical ailments are each treated separately, which they warned can become "duplicative and inefficient and is burdensome and unsafe for patients because of poor co-ordination and integration".

Writing in The Lancet medical journal, the researchers warned the ageing population means the number of people living with several conditions at once is expected to increase dramatically in the next few decades and there is now an urgent need to improve the existing set-up.

They said: "Our findings challenge the single-disease framework by which most health care, medical research and medical education is configured.

"Existing approaches need to be complemented by support for the work of generalists, providing continuity, co-ordination, and above all a personal approach for people with multi-morbidity.

"This approach is most needed in socioeconomically deprived areas, where multi-morbidity happens earlier, is more common, and more frequently includes physical-mental health comorbidity."

The researchers said people with several conditions were not being included in medical trials because their cases were "too complicated". But in their study 210,500 people over 65 had several health conditions, while 195,000 people under that age were also living with multiple ailments.

Figures published by the National Records of Scotland this year suggested there will be more than 300,000 extra pensioners within 25 years and the number of over-75s is expected to increase from 0.41 million last year to 0.74 million by 2035.

In a comment piece written in the Lancet, Dr Chris Salisbury, of Bristol University, said the ageing population meant the proportion of people with several medical problems at once was "increasing rapidly".

He said GPs in more deprived areas should have lower numbers of patients in a bid to account for high numbers of patients with complicated conditions while patients in hospitals should be assigned to a generalist consultant who would oversee all their care.

He said: "Expenditure on health care rises almost exponentially with the number of chronic disorders an individual has. This economic burden heightens the need to manage people with several chronic illnesses in more efficient ways."

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "This study adds to the large body of evidence we already have that the most vulnerable in our society are more likely to have more than one condition that puts their health at risk.

"The Scottish Government is working in partnership with NHS, primary care providers and patients, as well as the research community so we have effective systems in place to address the needs of people with multiple health conditions and to reduce these health inequalities."