Like him or loathe him, Alan Milburn MP was the only visionary to have been health secretary in recent times. And, when it came to better integrating delivery of health and social care, ambitious new care trusts were his solution. They would bring many of the responsibilities for primary care and adults’ services under one roof.
While few disagreed with the principle, many took issue with the prescriptive structure. Only 10 exist and they vary in their roles, with half providing services only. But with another planned, and a commissioning framework due for health and well-being from the government next month, care trusts are back in the spotlight.
The Commission for Social Care Inspection’s recent report into the first care trust is essential reading.
Set up in Northumberland to support more innovative and integrated working, health priorities have dominated at the expense of adults’ services. Enormous effort went into creating the trust, but this wasn’t matched in developing frameworks and partnerships to deliver the aims.
Organisational culture is as important as structure. Those considering this care trust model will have to ensure that their strategic priorities are owned – and balanced – locally, otherwise the vision will remain just that.
Related article
Social care losing out in pioneering Northumberland tie-up with NHS
Editorial Comment: Vision’s flawed focus
More from Community Care
Related articles:
Job of the week
Featured jobs
Employer Zone
Making flexible working work for social workers, their families and the families they support
A safe and supportive environment in which NQSWs can learn and flourish
How one council is working to capture the voice of the child
A job that doesn’t feel like work
‘There’s a real sense of pride in our work to reunite families’
Employer zone – showcasing a selection of the sector’s top recruiters
Community Care Inform
Latest stories
Council urgently reviewing direct payment cuts after challenge to ‘unlawful’ policy
DfE ends intervention in ‘inadequate’ children’s services following progress
Delay cap on care costs, council heads urge government
Council adopted ‘restrictive and wrong interpretation’ of Care Act in cutting brothers’ care, finds court
Comments are closed.