Investing in the enablers of local integrated care
Six months after the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan, national and local implementation initiatives are well underway.
The first new funding is being released, including through the new GP Contract. Primary Care Networks are being established. A range of specific service improvements are under development. An interim workforce strategy has been published.
This paper aims to contribute to the consideration of one aspect of these implementation plans: investment in provider and system enablers of service improvement at the neighbourhood level. It makes the case for investing additional resources in the Primary Care Networks so that they evolve into neighbourhood care ‘integrators’ in those areas where relationships between providers are already strong and the scope for reducing health inequalities is high.
It also highlights the need to strengthen the service improvement capability and back-office systems of individual providers of primary and community care, and considers better ways to invest in such capacity.
