Trade Association Calls For Improvement In Joined-Up Social Care

Intellect, the UK trade association for the IT, telecoms and electronics industries, is calling on the government to remove barriers to joined-up social and health care services, to help practitioners and improve care.

The government has set out a radical plan for connecting health and social care IT systems, and sharing information about individuals and communities across services.  An Intellect white paper on the issue states that for these IT systems to be truly effective and work as envisaged, the government needs to adopt a smarter procurement process and a more holistic approach to care provision.

Intellect also calls for stronger leadership; greater sharing of best practice among health and social care practitioners; and a closer, more consultative working relationship with industry.

Tom Nawojczyk, chairman of the Intellect health and social care group said, “Joined up health and social care could provide a more inclusive and holistic service to our population. However we cannot ignore the challenges we face in bringing this about. The current gaps in critical knowledge of risks and vulnerability that exist because of data silos, must be addressed.”

He said, “We need a joined up view of critical patient information to be able to support joined up service provision. We hope to work more closely with government in this area to ensure a positive outcome for all.”

The government is already trying to improve the state of the ongoing National Programme for IT, by devolving more power to local organisations.