Delivering integrated care at neighbourhood level: approaches to workforce

Overview

This case study forms part of a series published as part of this Neighbourhood Integration Project.

The organisations that contributed to this briefing faced a range of different workforce  challenges. Portsmouth needed to invest time in bringing organisations with different working practices together. In Harrogate, the challenge was to sustain the good practice developed  during its vanguard pilot. Newcastle had to work to develop a strategy and narrative about their vision for integration that people could relate to, while in East Cheshire, the task was to translate an already agreed strategy into concrete actions.

Despite the varied challenges they faced – and the different nature of the places and  populations they serve – there is much common learning on integration at the neighbourhood level across these different organisations. To make progress, partnerships needed to: 

• Invest in building relationships across different organisations and sectors to agree a common vision and embed changes in behaviours and working cultures.
• Ensure teams with responsibility for leading integration had buy-in from the executive  and senior leadership teams as well as the flexibility to be creative in their approach.
• Involve and engage with staff at all point in the integration journey to co-design changes  in services.
• Prioritise improvements in IT, with a focus on digital ways of working alongside co-locating teams where possible to align working practices.