These 'service users' will also use their often considerable experience of coping and caring for those with chronic conditions to examine the current practices in Wales and look at how this can be improved in order to best fulfill the real needs of the people involved.

In Wales, one in three adults presently have at least one chronic condition. For those aged 65 and over, two in every three people report having at least one condition and a third say they have multiple conditions.

This phenomenon is considered a huge drain on health-care resources, especially at secondary care level, if patients' conditions are not well  managed.

Angela Evans, a researcher at Swansea University's School of Medicine said: "The top five chronic conditions in Wales are arthritis, respiratory disease, heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Our work enables the ones suffering from these conditions or those caring from them to be involved in research about the current chronic conditions policy and what are the best ways of managing services and treatment programmes.

Researchers are encouraged to involve service users in their work because it enables their perspective of having a condition and receiving a service to be included in planning and undertaking research. But we need to know more about how best to involve people. The meeting in  Cardiff is a chance for service users, academics and research commissioners to meet each other and learn more about each other’s perspective."

The meeting will be held at the Novotel Hotel in Cardiff on Thursday.