Survey on health and social care integration

A survey has been launched to ask people in Plymouth for their views on making health and social care services in the city more joined up.

Work is underway in Plymouth, as in the rest of the country, to develop an integrated service across health and social care to enable us to deliver the right care, at the right time, in the right place. It will be in place by April 2015 and will lead to a better use of resources at a time when demand continues to rise for health and social care services.

Health commissioners Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (NEW Devon CCG) are working with Plymouth City Council, which commissions and provides social care to develop options for an integrated community based health and social care service for the city. A number of options are being explored including working with local healthcare providers Plymouth Community Healthcare (PCH). The body that is driving integration forward for Plymouth is the Integrated Health and Wellbeing Board. The Board is made up of representatives from across health and social care commissioners in Plymouth.

Councillor Ian Tuffin, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care at Plymouth City Council, said: “These are challenging times for health and social care and we need to work in a collaborative way to address the health and care needs of our local population.

“Extensive engagement with the public has consistently told us that people want health and social care services to work much more closely together to look after the whole person, while the Care Act 2014 also makes this a top priority. But we are always looking for people’s feedback and the comments you give us in the survey will help us to shape local services.

“All partners are committed to improving services and outcomes for individuals and communities and recognise that to achieve this we need to bring together both commissioning and provision of health and social care services.”

Dr Paul Hardy, a GP from Plymouth and Chair of the Western Locality of Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "I welcome more joined up working between health and social care and am confident it will benefit our patients.

For patients it will mean avoiding getting stuck between different organisations and finding a seamless service with easier access to services. We can harness clinicians skills to identify blocks and boundaries, finding better ways to offer care, so helping patients receive the support they need in a more timely fashion."

The new integrated health and social care service should be in place by April 2015. Business cases for joint provision and commissioning were submitted to the Council's Cabinet for approval on 15 July and the final detailed plan for implementation will be taken to both Council Cabinet and the CCG's Governing Body in November. The PCH Board will also consider and approve the proposals around the same time.

For more information about integration of health and social care in Plymouth, go to www.plymouth.gov.uk/hscintegration

To complete the survey go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HDTGR5K