Delivering integrated care at neighbourhood level: approaches to governance
Overview
The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated the integration of care in the community.
The transformative potential of organisations working together at a neighbourhood level to meet local needs has never been clearer.
Before the crisis hit, the Community Network initiated a project to capture the successes and share the learning from areas where local service integration was already well underway.
This briefing forms part of a series published as part of this Neighbourhood Integration Project. With funding from NHS England and Improvement, the project focuses on how long-standing local partnerships have resolved the operational challenges that so often hold back the integration agenda.
A member survey carried out by the Community Network found that the need to develop frameworks for integrated governance was one of the four main barriers to more seamless care at the local level. This briefing focuses on how organisations in Hull, Worcestershire and Newcastle have found ways to overcome this barrier and establish effective governance arrangements for their local partnerships.
The case studies in this briefing were written before the pandemic, with all the change that has brought about, not least the move to digital ways of working. However, as the NHS faces unprecedented pressures not just to recover but reset how services are delivered, we hope they are still a timely way of sharing the practical strategies health and care organisations have already used to deliver more joined-up care.
This Community Network project is supported by NHS Providers, the NHS Confederation, the National Association of Primary Care, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.
