People not structures: Putting people at the heart of integrated care (July 2024)

Summary

Integrated care systems (ICSs) have been in place for nearly two years and the rate of progress varies significantly across the country. This report was produced collaboratively by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). It aims to help local ICSs to prioritise their citizens by focusing on how frontline services can work together for local people.

Featuring case studies about people accessing services, the report focuses on two key issues that affect joint working between health and social care providers:

1. inadequate communication between service providers
2. secondly service providers not always putting the person at the heart of their care.

Content

Recommendations

1. Agree a ‘person first approach’: Where it does not exist, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs) and local authorities should design a local approach that brings councils and health services together to look at how a person’s needs can be met first, with considerations of who is responsible and who pays coming an important second. This would create a structured ‘person first’ approach that puts people before organisational structures.
2. Use the existing tools effectively: Councils and NHS bodies must use the tools that exist effectively to support a holistic approach, such as local dispute resolution processes and the National Framework for children and young people’s continuing care. ICPs should monitor how effectively this is being done in their area.
3. Agree standard frameworks for communication: Where they do not already exist, councils and health bodies should put in place person-centred, standard frameworks for effective communication between organisations. These should focus on ensuring the professionals on the ground interact effectively and that discussions and decisions are properly recorded.