Integrated health and social care

Achieving effective integrated health and social care services: the components of success

Yesterday, on the opening day of the LGA conference, the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) report “Beyond barriers: how older people move between health and care in England” was published. Chief Executive Sir David Behan led an insightful session exploring the highlights of the report.

CQC reviewed 20 local health and care systems to understand how services are working together to meet the needs of people over the age of 65, who move between health and care services. Whilst significant barriers to integrated health and care persist, the CQC reports they have been able to find examples of the “ingredients” that are needed for effective integrated system working. These include:

• common vision and purpose
• effective and robust leadership
• strong relationships at all levels
• joint funding and commissioning
• the right staff with the right skills
• right communications and information sharing channels
• a learning culture

The CQC found there are “strong foundations” to build upon and evidence of the improved outcomes that can be achieved for people when health and care are more effectively joined up. Nonetheless the system remains a fragmented one and in order to overcome this they recommend changes to:

• the way the performance of health and social care is measured
• the funding arrangements for health and social care
• the way the future shape and skills of the workforce are planned
• regulation and oversight of health and social care

Integrated health and social care services

Local Partnerships’ Strategic Director Anne Jarrett led an insight session, earlier on in the day, exploring further ways to support councils to integrate health and social care. She reviewed what is needed to support leaders to progress their integration ambitions, secure better outcomes for service users and make more effective use of local resources. The session allowed local leaders to get a shared, evidenced and informed view of the challenges facing the local health and care system and the benefits offered by a more integrated system.

Local Partnerships and the LGA have drawn upon their work with local systems, including the ongoing learning from the Care and Health Improvement Programme, to develop an offer to local leaders that will support them with this challenge. The support provides an opportunity to consider the ways in which data analysis and information can be used – in a relatively simple way – to identify key lines of enquiry for the local system and to target where greatest benefits can be secured.

To read CQC’s report please click here.

For more information on Local Partnerships’ work on health and social care integration please click here or contact Anne Jarrett on the details below.

You can also visit us at Stand C9 at the LGA conference today and tomorrow.

M: 07917 813 829
E: anne.jarrett@localpartnerships.gov.uk