What’s happening with integrated working right now

We explore key developments happening with integrated working across adult social care right now.

Integrated working means social care, health, community bodies, housing, and other service providers working together to provide better care outcomes for people supported, with less fragmentation across services.

It’s about ensuring services are planned and delivered around the needs of people and their families, where the individual has control over their care, communicating their story only once to professionals who work together as a team to achieve the outcomes important to them.

10 Year Health Plan

The Government has identified three ‘shifts’ to how health and care support is delivered, and these are being built upon in the recently-published 10 Year Health Plan.

The three shifts are:

• moving more care from hospitals to communities

• making better use of technology in health and care

• focusing on preventing sickness, not just treating it.

The Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England created by the sector under the leadership of Skills for Care sets out a plan for the social care workforce over the next 15 years that contributes directly to these shifts, supporting the NHS and the creation of a National Care Service.

The move from hospital to community cannot happen without effective social care, delivered by a skilled, well-staffed and valued workforce – which the Strategy is designed to enable.

By reducing the admission and escalation of health issues, providing reablement support, community connections and support at home, social care helps people maintain and regain their independence.

Investing in earlier preventive support in social care saves £3.17 for every pound invested.

Neighbourhood Health Services

Following on from these three shifts are the current plans for Neighbourhood Health Services, which are to be rolled out across the country with 43 pioneer test sites already piloting neighbourhood health services.

Neighbourhood Health Services will link up care providers, GPs, social workers, nurses and other health and care professionals to bring care and support closer to home.

Neighbourhood health embodies a preventative principle and that care should happen locally. This support should be digitally as default, in a person’s home, if possible, connected to their community where wished for, in a local health centre if needed and in a hospital only when necessary

The Government goal is for the majority of outpatient care to happen outside of hospital by 2035.

Delegated Healthcare Activities

These activities allow care workers to take on tasks that, with consent and support, have been delegated by a regulated healthcare professional. This can include activities such as catheter care or insulin administration.

Safe, effective and appropriate delegation gives people more choice and control over their care and supports better overall health and wellbeing, with the needs for fewer different faces providing care to an individual. This means more person-centred care for that individual.

We offer a range of support to help with delegated healthcare activities, including our guiding principles, best practice materials, and practical tools.

Local Skills Improvement Plans

Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) align education and training with the needs of local employers to boost the local economy. Led by Employer Representative Bodies (ERBs), LSIPs identify regional skills gaps and create a roadmap for action, including training and funding, to develop a workforce that meets local job market demands.

This is an opportunity for investment into the social care workforce locally, and an integrated model of working across health, social care and other services can make this investment more viable.

Employers across any sector are able to directly engage with their local ERB to propose the need for skills development funding within their sector.

There is information available about how to do this on the Government website. Or contact your Skills for Care locality manager for more information on local engagement.

Find out more about the current landscape of integrated working and opportunities to get involved with our ‘Integrated working and social care’ spotlight.

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