Integrated care has long been something of a holy grail for the NHS: though it is everyone agrees is desirable, there is less agreement on how to overcome the very real challenges to implementation. In response to this, and the recent Government announcement of the establishment of integrated care pilots, the Nuffield Trust is undertaking a growing programme of work on integrated care combining seminars, research, briefing papers and advisory work.
This report, by recent Harkness fellow Richard Gleave, combines first-hand observations of how integrated care operates ‘across the pond’ in the United States, with suggested lessons for the UK’s health system. These lessons are important for policy-makers and for health and social care managers; they will be built on by further Trust work during 2009.