- Conference
- 2014 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 7 December 2013
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the integration of health and social care has become a key debate in the NHS across the UK over the past year.
Conference notes that although only Northern Ireland has full structural integration of health and social care, governing parties from all political persuasions are pursuing integration policies in Scotland, Wales and England. The Public Bodies (Joint Working) Bill is currently going through the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly Government has recently consulted on its Framework for Integration, and in England there is now a £3.8bn Integration Transformation Fund as well as 14 sites that will “pioneer” approaches to integration.
In addition, Conference notes that the Labour shadow health team has come up with an ambitious plan for Whole Person Care that would bring about the full integration of national health and social care budgets and services in England. Conference believes it is important that if local authority health and wellbeing boards are given health commissioning powers, as suggested by Labour, then there is a need to ensure that health money is protected and privatisation resisted.
Conference believes that integration has the potential to bring about benefits for patients and service users, in terms of a more seamless joined-up service across sectoral boundaries. In addition, it may help reduce some of the time and money wasted when responsibility for a patient or service user’s care is transferred, sometimes repeatedly, between the NHS and local authorities.
However, Conference believes that for meaningful integration to take place, staff and patient/user involvement is essential. Moreover, Conference asserts that integration should never be used as a cover for cuts; it cannot be done on the cheap and requires decent funding if it is to work properly.
Conference warns that the cultural differences between working in the NHS and local government should not be under-estimated, and that there is a need to guard against two-tier workplaces or a feeling of “takeover” by one sector or another.
As part of this, Conference believes it is essential that integration is not used to level down terms and conditions.
Conference is concerned by the complacent analysis of the Westminster government that integration is fully compatible with competition; this is not the case – integration should be used as an anti-market tool to cut down on fragmentation.
Conference believes that integration should proceed on the basis of public sector values, rather than allowing the privatisation and means testing from social care to seep across into the NHS.
Conference therefore calls upon the Health Service Group Executive to:
1)support the integration of health and social care where this is in the interests of patients and service users, but on the basis of full staff involvement and with the proviso that integration should never be used as a cover for cuts;
2)resist any attempts to use integration to reduce NHS terms and conditions;
3)keep branches up to date on the ongoing initiatives on health and social care integration, monitoring the progress of those areas undertaking integration;
4)work with UNISON Labour Link to feed the union’s views into the shaping of Labour’s Whole Person Care agenda; and
5)provide branches and activists with guidance and appropriate support to assist members affected.