Local relationships key to integration

The integration of health and social care should be driven by local relationships between professionals rather than national direction, a primary care leader has said.

National Association of Primary Care chair Dr James Kingsland said central policies, such as the alignment of the boundaries of most primary care trusts and local authorities, would be insufficient to integrate care for service users.

But he said: “When [professionals] develop a package you don’t have this question of whether it’s a health bath or a social bath. There have to be local solutions.”

Kingsland suggested there should be individual budgets for people with long-term conditions.