Do councils hold the key to integrating health and social care?

Author: Public Sector Executive   |  

Councils could play a key role in integrating health and social care at the local level, providing they are empowered to do so, a new report has concluded.

The study ? Unblocking: Securing a health and social care system that protects older people ? by Localis, highlighted that the ?institutional? and ?historic? separation of the NHS and local government has fragmented healthcare provision locally and nationally, and created significant barriers to integrating services.

It says that as the NHS has historically been driven from Whitehall, it often sees itself as answerable to ministers, whereas local government is directly accountable to its electorate. The two environments inevitably have very different outlooks.

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