"Integration has the potential to transform services to provide better coordinated care for people who need it - providing it puts people at the heart of decisions which is essential if we are to improve the quality of individuals’ lives."
Responding to a Health and Social Care Committee report on “Integrated care: organisations, partnerships and systems”, Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said:
“We are pleased the report recognises that integration is not an end in itself and that government and the NHS need to make a far clearer case that integration will improve the care and experience of patients. We are pleased with the acknowledgement that councils need to be equal partners in plans to join up services.
“Integration has the potential to transform services to provide better coordinated care for people who need it - providing it puts people at the heart of decisions which is essential if we are to improve the quality of individuals’ lives.
“However, further integration plans are being severely hampered by current funding pressures in social care and the NHS and the continued focus on reducing pressure on acute and inpatient services.
“The long-term future of the NHS can only be assured if social care is adequately funded in the short and long-term, with both services put on an equal footing which will improve prevention work and better manage demands on councils and hospitals.
“Further integration needs to ensure adult social care is appropriately funded within a wider system and focuses on the significant challenges and long-term sustainability of social care, which the forthcoming green paper needs to address.”