Roundtable 2: Development of primary and community healthcare services and links with social care

Chair: Matthew Swindells, Joint Chair of West London’s four Acute NHS Trusts and former Deputy Chief Executive of NHS England

The government’s latest white paper identifies two core forms of integration underpinned by the legislation. There is of course integration within the NHS to streamline collaboration as well as integration that enhances collaboration between NHS, local government and wider community services such as the voluntary sector. It is important that, throughout this period of reform and beyond, ICSs come to represent a ‘partnership of equals’ between different parts of the system.

This roundtable will discuss how ICSs will link primary care providers with wider community support to allow patient care to become more personalised, reducing the need for patients to have more expensive, invasive medical treatments. Integrated healthcare will allow the joined-up management of diseases across primary, community, social care and hospital services, to provide better treatment for patients.