The integration of health and social care services, as reportedly ordered by David Cameron, is the holy grail of public policy. More than a nice-to-have, it’s an absolute imperative if we are to maintain the 1948 welfare state settlement through the seismic demographic changes we are starting to undergo.
No one understands this better than the six million unpaid carers who every day have to negotiate the maddening demarcation lines between NHS services and social care provision funded – but these days rarely provided – by local councils. To secure and sustain a package of care and support for their spouse, parent, child or neighbour or friend, carers know that invariably they will have to deal with multiple agencies. For most people, their GP is the nearest thing to a one-stop care shop. But rare as hen’s teeth is the surgery that offers an on-site gateway to social care services as well as health. The best that many patients or carers can hope to emerge with is a telephone number to call.
