Almost one in five local authorities think they are lagging behind when it comes to joining up health and social care services, according to a new poll, while nearly half claim they are moving forward slowly.
And almost half believe the Better Care Fund has little or no impact either on care budgets and quality.
The survey of local authority care directors, carried out by Health MJ and BT, found that only 8.3% felt they were ‘well advanced’ when it came to integrating services with health partners, while a further quarter believe they are ‘quite advanced’ and ‘progressing well.’ However 48% say they are progressing slowly and 19% say they are not advanced at all.
The results cast doubt over the ability of both sectors to drive up efficiency savings through closer integration.
According to the directors surveyed, the key barriers to joining up services were a lack of technical knowledge and fear of cultural change.
As services are stretched to cope with shrinking public sector budgets and increased service demand, more than half of the directors (52%) claimed service integration was the only way to deliver elderly care and health in the future. But 48% suggested it only one of several options.
The Better Care Fund had made little or no impact on budgets and service quality said 43% of directors, while 11% said it had made a major impact and 45% said ‘some impact’. Almost 60% of directors said their social care had experienced remote care. Almost half of directors said digital technology is a vital factor in ensuring social inclusion for the elderly.
