Resource: Stepping up to the place: The key to successful health and social care integration

A tool kit of resources to help local health and care leaders move further and faster on achieving their vision of integration will today be unveiled at the Local Government Association’s annual conference.

The integration self-assessment tool kit has been developed in partnership by the LGA, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, NHS Confederation and NHS Clinical Commissioners, to support local health and care systems.

It will enable local areas to assess their own readiness to bring about integration, and identify what action they need to take.

The tool kit will be officially launched as part of the session “How do we tackle the financial crisis in health and social care?”, a panel debate chaired by journalist and TV presenter Cathy Newman.

This session will emphasise the importance of a local place-based and democratically accountable approach to integration, in which leaders will need to operate beyond their traditional organisational boundaries to achieve the best health and wellbeing outcomes for their residents.

The unveiling of the tool kit follows the launch of “Stepping up to the place: The key to successful integration” at the NHS Confederation annual conference, a joint report by NHS Confed, LGA, NHSCC and ADASS that outlines the shared vision for integration based on forming care around the needs of individuals in society.

The tool kit will be piloted in several areas before its full roll-out in autumn, when it will be available to all areas as part our Care and Health Improvement Programme leadership offer.

The LGA’s Community Wellbeing Portfolio Holder, Cllr Izzi Seccombe, said: “This is a practical self-assessment tool kit we have produced to help local health and care systems accelerate the scale and pace of integration.

“It is part of a suite of resources which will build on our shared vision to integrate health and social care and improve patient care.

“We understand the challenges places face in delivering integration and this tool kit is about making that process easier by helping local areas identify the actions they need to take.”

Harold Bodmer, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), said: “It is clear that the need to transform services and make them sustainable while improving the experience for those who receive care and health services has never been greater. We have an ageing population, the people who we are supporting have complex care and health needs, and of course there is the unprecedented financial pressures facing local government and adult social care.

“This tool kit will help partners assess what action they need to take to speed up the integration process, so that when we need care and support, we get services that are personalised, of good quality, that address our mental, physical and other forms of wellbeing, and are joined-up around our individual needs and those of our carers.”

Dr Graham Jackson, NHSCC co-chair and chair of Aylesbury Vale CCG said “We know that place-based integrated health and social care systems are key to delivering truly person-centred care.

“Our joint report with the LGA, NHS Confederation and ADASS ‘Stepping up to the Place’ set out what this could look like – the new tool kit will be a valuable resource to help local health and care systems put this vision into practice at pace.”

Stephen Dalton, Chief Executive, NHS Confederation, said:”This practical tool kit builds on our recent joint report and will support local leaders to unpick the complexity of local health and care integration.

“Our members are clear that care will only improve if health and social care services become more closely aligned – and that this needs to begin now.

“Against a backdrop of massive challenges across health and care, it’s essential and urgent that all the collective resources of a ‘place’ are used to the greatest benefit of local communities.”

To download the toolkit, visit: http://www.local.gov.uk/web/guest/publications/-/journal_content/56/10180/7867709/PUBLICATION