News

The single assessment process for older people is being hampered by a lack of co-ordination with government plans to introduce electronic care records in the NHS, according to a Department of Health official.

Seamus Breen, who leads on the SAP for the DoH's health and social care change agent team, said that while progress had generally been good, the necessary IT infrastructure for sharing information across social services and health was not in place.

"There would be better progress if the national IT agenda was working to the same timescale," Breen said.

SAP, including its information sharing systems, should have been in place by April 2004. But the full integration of health and social care records in the NHS is due to be completed by 2010.

Breen's comments follow publication of a survey by consultancy Capita showing that half of English councils are yet to start implementing electronic social care records for live cases.