UK
UK set to deliver integrated health and social care systems
By DoH, UK
Jul 23, 2005, 01:27

A joint white paper, designed to deliver integrated health and social care systems, was announced today by Care Services Minister Liam Byrne. It will bring together proposals for both adult social care and all care received outside of hospitals.

Care Services Minister Liam Byrne said, �Dignity for life is our ambition. A joint white paper will help put individuals and their families at the centre of care.�

He also announced three brand new initiatives as part of his work plan as Care Services Minister:

That the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) and the Local Government Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) develop a joined-up national improvement strategy for adult social care. This strategy will offer practical support through a range of regionally tailored methods and approaches. It will be developed in collaboration with SCIE, LGA and the ADSS to ensure future work programmes are based on local need.

A new taskforce, linked to the existing National Strategic Partnership Forum, will identify the obstacles the sector experiences in delivering services in partnership with health.

A joint review with the DfES will identify further workforce development options, which will be known as Options for Excellence. This will include recruitment and retention, education and development, leadership and expanding professional regulation.

The Minister also outlined work he would be undertaking in other areas of his portfolio.

In the home

Liam Byrne will oversee �140m investment in social care projects designed to help vulnerable people live independently. This is just one programme backed by a combined total of almost a quarter of a billion pounds of investment in research and development. This comes in advance of the 2007 spending review and will help shape the delivery of social care in the future.

On Tuesday 19 July he launched guidance to local authorities on how to invest �80m from the 2004 spending review on telecare projects. In November he will announce which areas will be asked to take forward the �60m Partnerships for Older People pilots, which aim to reduce emergency admissions to hospital.

In care

The Minister confirmed he would accelerate work on introducing a national set of eligibility criteria for NHS continuing care to tackle the risk of post-code lotteries. He also indicated he would give new weight to those who suffer from �stable conditions� or whose care needs change in the latter stages of their disease. He indicated this was included in his response to the Health Select Committee which he laid before the House on the morning of Thursday 21 July.

In hospital

The Minister will be working with the Chief Nursing Officer on a programme of measures entitled �Caring in Confidence� to help ensure that dignity and care are of the highest standard for older people. Originally to be piloted at four NHS hospitals, it will accelerate the spread of best practice across the NHS.

In addition, pilots on individual budgets and how they work with older people and people with learning or physical difficulties will be up and running from the end of 2005. Individual budgets are designed to bring together a number of income streams to enable a person to make real choices about how they will design and manage their care or support in a way which best suits their own needs.

The Minister also renewed his manifesto pledge on end of life care for children and adults, and pledged to work with Ministerial colleague Rosie Winterton on increasing the choice for patients with cancer and doubling the investment going into palliative care services, giving more people the choice to be treated at home.

A strong partnership with the voluntary sector

The Minister confirmed his commitment to working with the voluntary sector on health matters by establishing a taskforce to identify the obstacles that stand in the way of effective partnership between the voluntary sector and health. The Taskforce�s programme aims to identify and address the specific barriers to a strong commercial relationship between the voluntary and public sectors. It will pay specific attention to how administration costs for voluntary and community service providers can be reduced. It will report by November 2005.

Effective leadership

The Minister is to set up a �virtual� social care information initiative to look at information sources and ensure that it can be readily available to support policy development, practice improvement and performance management.

In addition, Liam Byrne clarified which groups the Department of Health will ask the General Social Care Council to register in their next wave: domiciliary staff and residential care staff in adults and children's services.

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