Adult social care engagement whitepaper launches

The Good Governance Institute (GGI), Care England and the Homecare Association today launched a whitepaper exploring the extent to which the adult social care sector is being appropriately engaged in the ongoing development of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs).

The purpose of an ICS is to deliver joined up care, so that people can access health and care services seamlessly, through a partnership between organisations.

However, effective engagement among ICSs with the adult social care sector has been inconsistent.

Andrew Corbett-Nolan, CEO of GGI, said: ‘Engagement with adult social care is essential to the success of integrated care systems (ICSs) and the development of health and social care services. This paper comes at an essential time for engagement with key partners across the system, to enable connections between health and social care.’

Martin Green, CEO of Care England, added: ‘In order for ICSs to succeed, social care provider’s must be heard. We urge all ICS leaders to carefully consider the key recommendations in this paper to ensure that integration works for both health and social care.’

Key recommendations from the paper include:

• ICSs note that the social care partner member on the Integrated Care Board (ICB) will not necessarily be able to effectively represent providers, and therefore, ICSs should work with providers to develop more effective engagement mechanisms
• ICSs should develop a plan about how to engage with adult social care providers and involve them in the process
• ICSs should have a provider forum or liaise with local care associations which nominates a representative to the ICS Partnership Board
• ICSs should ensure that adult social care providers have a role in the new local place arrangements, the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) and/or the ICB. Perhaps through the creation of a paid position that is tasked with furthering the adult social care agenda and educating others around them on the issues facing the sector
• The Department of Health and Social Care publish a specific framework for ICS engagement with the adult social care sector

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