Integrating children's services - between aspiration and reality

Abstract

Introduction: The Department of Health (DH) is currently funding several integrated care pilots in England, so called Integration Pioneers. Some local areas, however, are implementing programmes of integrated care without DH support. This paper reports preliminary findings of a longitudinal study of an integrated care programme without DH support in an urban setting in the North of England. The programme is unique in focusing solely on children's care, comprising health and social care organisations in the primary, secondary and tertiary sector. Children's services are different from adults' services by virtue of their universal funding and the holistic care approach. Nevertheless, children's health care suffers from similar organisational fragmentation and silo delivery. Our study evaluated a 5 year integration improvement programme in an urban area in the North of England under the leadership of the local CCG. The CCG combined more than 90 GP practices, a large children's hospital w)