News / CCGs urged to spend funds on integration

28 May 2013

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By Seamus Ward

The Department of Health has encouraged clinical commissioning groups to use non-recurrent funding to finance innovative approaches to integrated health and social care as ministers promised ‘joined-up and co-ordinated health and care’ would be the norm by 2018.

It is not clear whether health and social care will be joined up in new organisations, in virtual organisations or a combination of the two. But the Department is keen on integration. It has signed an integration framework alongside another 11 national organisations, including Monitor, NHS England and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.

The framework, Integrated care and support: our shared commitment, sets out an agreed definition of good integrated care: ‘I can plan my care with people who work together to understand me and my carer(s), allowing me control, and bringing together services to achieve the outcomes important to me.’

The framework also details how closer working would improve patient experiences and outcomes and the actions needed, including resources. It urges CCGs to consider using the 2% of their budgets set aside for non-recurrent spending to fund integrated care and support.

Care and support minister Norman Lamb said: ‘People don’t want healthcare or social care, they just want the best care.

‘This is a vital step in creating a truly joined-up system that puts people first. Unless we change the way we work, the NHS and care system is heading for a crisis.’

Integration would also save money. A National Audit Office study had estimated savings of between £2.8bn and £5bn for the health and social care system, based on pilot integration sites. However, the Department of Health conceded that this was a broad estimate and further work was needed to come to a realistic assessment.

A study of the first year of a pilot integration project in north-west London reported that collaboration had not resulted in a marked fall in admissions to emergency units or significant changes in the wider use of services.

This early evaluation, by the Nuffield Trust and Imperial College London, warned that it would take much longer than a year to see such an impact.