The development of whole-system integrated care in England

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to detail the research and findings from a piece of work commissioned by the Local Government Association in England, in May 2013 into the current implementation of integrated care.

Design/methodology/approach

The field research was carried out by Integrating Care, a collaborative drawn from leading academics, health and social care executives, analysts and clinicians working in the field of integrated care; along with consultancy support from public sector consultancies PPL and GE Healthcare Finnamore. It comprised a series of local interviews, workshops, modelling and analysis and ongoing engagement.

Findings

The paper describes the outputs that were delivered to support the development of “whole-system” integrated health and social care drawing on national and international best-practice, and knowledge gained from experiences of implementation.

Social implications

The paper concludes by drawing together the key lessons from the overarching analysis of whole-system integration. This includes the opportunities and the complexities of redesigning and re-implementing better co-ordinated health and social care provision at scale, as experienced in England currently.

Originality/value

The paper describes the specific challenges posed through the fieldwork and ongoing development process of integration in England, and the paper reflects upon some of the deeper questions that this has led to. The paper then draws together the research and analysis with emerging, strategic questions around the concept of value in health provision; and begins to question whether this has yet been demonstrated; and, if not, what a demonstration and evidencing of “value” in this context might look like.

Citation

Kennedy, C. and Morioka, S. (2014), "The development of whole-system integrated care in England", Journal of Integrated Care, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 142-153. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICA-06-2014-0021