Search results

Following fundamental reviews and reform of services for children and for adults, there is increased recognition of the importance of the integration of front‐line services. Against this background, this article summarises recent changes and considers the tensions that will need resolving as services implement their new structures. In particular, the paper presents a framework for helping to consider the nature of the partners that services may need to engage (how broad?) and the type of relationships they will need (how deep?).

The personalisation agenda currently appears as a key strand of the Government's approach to health and social care services. On the face of it this offers an exciting new future where service users drive the way services are joined up, which for some may be welcome given the paucity of evidence to show that the organisationally‐driven partnership working of the past decade has delivered real and tangible outcomes for service users. There is some suggestion that in the future any talk about partnerships will be about this citizen‐state interaction, rather than one between health and social care agencies. This paper argues that there is a real danger in suggesting that personalisation negates the need for health and social care agencies to work together in partnership; instead this interface is more imperative than ever. In this paper we provide an overview of the debates around personalisation and partnership and set out the case why partnership should not be forgotten, and indeed will be key, in the success of the personalisation agenda.

As policy makers seek to develop a more preventative and rehabilitative approach to older people's services, new policies and integrated initiatives have made a positive contribution. However, rebalancing the nature of the system as a whole remains elusive.