Social Care and General Practice

General practice sits at the interface between health and social care, and can in the right circumstances play a vital role in working with patients, social care professionals and other to join up service and improve outcomes. The RCGP is undertaking ongoing policy work to explore the relationship between GPs and social care, and has produced two case studies providing examples of joint working that have led to benefits for patients:

• GPs in Sheffield have been leading on the delivery of proactive, coordinated healthcare to care home residents through a Locally Enhanced Service (LES) first set up by NHS Sheffield in 2008. Download the Sheffield LES case study [PDF]

• GPs in Taunton, Somerset, have played a central role in delivering a multi-disciplinary approach to helping people who have recently received treatment in hospital to retain the best possible quality of life in their own homes. Download the Taunton re-ablement case study [PDF]

Draft Care and Support Bill

In England the RCGP is engaging with policy makers on the proposals contained in the draft Care and Support Bill currently being considered by a Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Committee.

Further to a press release outlining the RCGP’s initial response, in January 2013 the College produced a briefing for Parliamentarians outlining our views on the draft Bill.

Download the RCGP’s Parliamentary Briefing on the draft Care and Support Bill [PDF]

RCGP Vice Chair Professor Nigel Mathers gave oral evidence to the Joint Committee on the Care and Support Bill on 23 January 2013. A recording of this session can be viewed below:

Key points the College has made about the Bill’s proposals include:

• We welcome the draft Bill and think it has lots of strengths. In particular we support the duties it sets out requiring local authorities to promote integration, cooperation and prevention.
• However, translating these legal duties in the draft Bill into action that delivers a more integrated patient and service user experience on the ground will be hugely challenging.  A big barrier to better meeting the needs of these individuals is the lack of a joined up approach between primary care and social care in the community. We need better lines of communication between professionals, greater use of care planning and working in multi-disciplinary teams.

• We’re very interested in how the draft Bill could be further strengthened to support the integration agenda. Three quick examples:

  • Greater clarity on how we are going to monitor and evaluate local authorities’ progress in promoting integration would be welcome.
  • Where an assessment of an individual’s (or their carers) care and support needs is undertaken as per the provisions in the Bill, we’re interested in exploring how information will be shared with GPs and others in the NHS.
  • We think further thought is needed as to how Personal Budgets and Personal Health Budgets fit together – we’d like to see them merged where an individual is eligible for both.
• Finally, we welcome the sections of the Bill that relate to establishing Health Education England (HEE) and the Health Research Authority (HRA). We think its particularly important that HEE is given powers to develop and implement a national, long-term workforce strategy, informed by the work of the Centre for Workforce Intelligence (CfWI).