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New public health policies present social services with new opportunities and challenges. A shared public health and social care agenda is emerging around health improvement, social exclusion and regeneration. Early signs of synergy indicate that social services have a key role to play in shaping the public health agenda and in acting as a bridge between the NHS and the wider local authority.

Inadequate Opportunities FOR rehabilitation have resulted in a distorted system of care and public disquiet about the impact on vulnerable older people and their families. Investment in rehabilitation offers a way out of a vicious circle of increasing demands for care and escalating expenditure. The system of health and social care needs to be re‐shaped to enable older people to regain the independence so often impaired after illness or injury. Health and local authorities face a daunting challenge, but the evidence suggests they will make progress if they follow the five‐point plan suggested here.

The NHS Plan promises improvements in the National Health Service that could benefit many people with long‐term illness or disability. Some longstanding problems concerning the funding and provision of their care and support will remain unchanged. Moreover, there are dangers of new conflicts between the NHS and local government that may hinder the delivery of integrated services and health improvement strategies.

Shortcomings in the health and social care workforce threaten the achievement of the NHS Plan. Government's recognition of the need to build workforce capacity has led to new strategies for recruiting and retaining staff and for providing the education and training required by both professional and non‐professional staff groups. The new focus on workforce issues has also opened up new opportunities to tackle inequalities regarding race, disability, gender and age. But employers face great challenges, requiring new ways of thinking and working in order to achieve change in the short and longer term.