Floundering or Flourishing? Early Insights from the Inception of Integrated Care Systems in England

Bibliographic Details
Title: Floundering or Flourishing? Early Insights from the Inception of Integrated Care Systems in England
Authors: Bethan Page, Thavapriya Sugavanam, Helen Hogan, Ray Fitzpatrick, Mirza Lalani
Source: International Journal of Integrated Care, Vol 24, Pp 4-4 (2024)
Publisher Information: Ubiquity Press, 2024.
Publication Year: 2024
Collection: LCC:Medicine (General)
Subject Terms: integration, integrated care systems, system reorganisation, population health, Medicine (General), R5-920
More Details: Background: In 2022, England embarked on an ambitious and innovative re-organisation to produce an integrated health and care system with a greater focus on improving population health. This study aimed to understand how nascent ICSs are developing and to identify the key challenges and enablers to integration. Methods: Four ICSs participated in the study between November 2021 and May 2022. Semi-structured interviews with system leaders (n = 67) from health, social and voluntary care as well as representatives of local communities were held. A thematic framework approach supported by Leutz’s five laws of integration framework was used to analyse the data. Results: The benefits of ICSs include enhancing the delivery of good quality care, improving population health and providing more person-centred care in the community. However, differences between health and social care such as accountability, organisational/professional cultures, risks of duplicating efforts, tensions over funding allocation, issues of data integration and struggles in engaging local communities threaten to hamper integration. Conclusions: Despite ICS’s investing in the structural and relational components of integrated care, the unprecedented pressures on systems to reduce demand on primary and emergency care tackling elective backlogs may detract from a key goal of ICSs, improving population health and prevention.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 1568-4156
Relation: https://account.ijic.org/index.php/up-j-ijic/article/view/7738; https://doaj.org/toc/1568-4156
DOI: 10.5334/ijic.7738
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/c5059a6fef4840f8909c46c860f76a6c
Accession Number: edsdoj.5059a6fef4840f8909c46c860f76a6c
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
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More Details
ISSN:15684156
DOI:10.5334/ijic.7738
Published in:International Journal of Integrated Care
Language:English