• Government’s new Integration White Paper will bring the NHS and local government closer together to improve care for all and value for money
• Plans will ensure people receive the right care for them in the right place at the right time
• Joining up services will help deliver a world-leading health and social care system working together as part of the wider reform and recovery agenda

Patients will receive better, more joined-up care under new plans announced today to improve the links between health and social care.

The Integration White Paper sets out a vision for an integrated NHS and adult social care sector which will better serve patients and staff.

Despite the best efforts of staff, the current system means that too often patients find themselves having to navigate complex and disjointed systems. Those with multiple conditions can be left feeling frustrated at having to repeatedly explain their needs to multiple people in different organisations, while others can end up facing delayed discharge because the NHS and local authorities are working to different priorities in a way that isn’t as joined up as it could be.

The White Paper sets out some of the ways health and care systems will draw on the resources and skills across the NHS and local government to better meet the needs of communities, reduce waiting lists and help level up healthcare across the country.

This includes –

• Better transparency and choice: if local authorities and the NHS share data and are more transparent about their performance, the local population will be able to see how their areas’ health and care services are performing and make decisions about their own care.
• More personalised care: linking GPs with wider forms of community support – such as social prescribing – could allow care to be more personalised which would help reduce the need for people to have more expensive, invasive medical treatment.
• Earlier intervention: integration will help people to access to the right services at the right time – including specialist services – which could mean earlier intervention that could prevent diseases from progressing and reduce the need for invasive and expensive interventions late in the day.
• Clear communication: integration will mean patients having a single digital care record so they can book appointments, order prescriptions, and communicate with their care providers on one platform while those involved in delivering health and care services can access the patient’s latest information. Not only will this save time, it will help ensure a patient doesn’t have to repeat themselves so many times, and professionals will have the information they need to make care plans that work for the patient.
• Improved access to social care services through NHS data sharing: currently local authorities cannot access all NHS data to make decisions about access to social care services. An integrated system would allow the NHS to notify a local authority straight away if a person requires social care support.
• Better treatment: managing diseases in the community through better join up between primary, community and hospital services means better treatment for patients.
• Better NHS support to care homes: integration between hospitals and social care would mean more specialist support so care home residents could be treated before they get unwell and avoid having to go to hospital.
• Coordinated services: better integration across health and care will reduce the burden on people to have to coordinate between different hospital specialists, GPs, social care and local authority services themselves.
• More flexible services: aligning financial incentives and pooling budgets will mean that the NHS and local authorities can use their resources more flexibly to benefit patients.
• Better value for money: reducing duplication and waste will mean that NHS investment can be spent in ways that benefit patients and deliver savings for social care, ensuring value for the taxpayer.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

The pandemic highlighted what our fantastic NHS and local government can achieve when they work together – from delivering the phenomenal vaccine rollout to supporting those who were shielding.

We now want to build on these successes, joining up health and social care even more to deliver the best possible care – whether you want to see a GP quickly or live independently with dementia.

These plans will ensure no patient falls between the gap, and that everyone receives the right care in the right place at the right time.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said:

Better integration is vital to stop people falling into the gaps between health and social care.

Ensuring our health and care systems work in unison will mean we can support hardworking staff, provide better care to patients and deliver value for the taxpayer.

Our Integration White Paper is part of our wider plans to reform and recover the health and social care system, ensuring everyone gets the treatment and care they need, when and where they need it.

The plans set out in the white paper will ensure care is more personalised and accessible and remove the burdens on patients. Better information sharing will mean people will no longer have to remember key facts such as dates of diagnosis or medicines prescribed, taking pressure off patients to coordinate their own care.

Local health services will be tailored to the specific needs of the community to ensure the right services are available. This could mean for example more diabetes clinics in areas with higher obesity, or additional support for people to stop smoking in communities where there are higher numbers of smokers.

The Integration White Paper is the next step in delivering the government’s promise of a health and social care system fit for the future. It builds on both the Health and Social Care Bill and the People at the Heart of Care White Paper which set out a ten year vision for social care funded through the Health and Care Levy, and follows the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care. Dedicated plans to tackle health disparities are set to be published in due course.

Integrated approaches are already being pioneered in many areas.

Through their contact with people in the community, pharmacies in Sutton, recognised a growing problem of loneliness and isolation, so worked with colleagues across the health and care system in that area to identify those most in need and link them up with services that were best placed to support them.

In Portsmouth, local authorities, health trusts and voluntary organisations combined their knowledge and expertise to improve support for vulnerable people in the community across a range of different services including health visiting, school nursing and learning disability support.

And in Tameside and Glossop, an electronic staff record system has enabled data to be fed into COVID-19 situation reports, so that staffing levels can be managed more effectively based on live data.

Integrating services in other parts of the country will help staff to treat increasingly complex conditions and combat health disparities, including by harnessing new and innovative technology.

To help embed integration across the country, there will be a single point of accountability at a local level to ensure closer links are forged between health and care systems, with consistent and compatible targets.

Michael Gove, Levelling Up Secretary, said:

The past two years have highlighted the persistent health disparities in this country. As we recover and level up, it is right that we draw on our experience of the pandemic to bridge the gaps that are holding us back – between health and social care, between health outcomes in different places and within society.

This is what our important Integration White Paper aims to achieve, by bringing together the NHS and local government to jointly deliver for local communities, and why I am so happy to champion its ambition.

Mark Cubbon, NHS England chief delivery officer, said:

The NHS is committed to making it easier for patients to get the care they need, regardless of the service or services they are using, and that is why we have already established 42 Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) across England as part of the Long Term Plan to ensure all parts of the NHS and its partners are working effectively together.

The pandemic has shown us what we can achieve when we work together, and joining up services across health, social care and the wider community is key to improving efficiency and giving our patients the best care possible.

Paul Najsarek, Solace spokesperson for Health & Social Care, said:

This White Paper is a welcome step forward to improving health outcomes in communities across the country.

The potential for local government to make a real, positive difference to the people and places we serve is immense, but it will only be by working together with health, voluntary and community sector partners, and playing to our respective strengths, that we will be able to deliver meaningful change by better treating and preventing illness, improving public health, and addressing inequalities.

In particular, local authority chief executives have a crucial and unique role to play both in bringing together disparate funding streams in place and galvanising not just their councils but key local stakeholders to contribute to this incredibly important agenda.

Today the Geospatial Commission has published an assessment of the UK’s geospatial data. The data is assessed against the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) principles.

FAIR is an internationally applied framework to structure and communicate data improvements and the report covers how FAIR is being adopted for the UK’s geospatial data held by the Geospatial Commission’s six Partner Bodies (British Geological Survey, Coal Authority, UK Hydrographic Office, HM Land Registry, Ordnance Survey and Valuation Office Agency).

Independent Commissioner of the Geospatial Commission, Kru Desai, said:

The UK has some of the best geospatial data in the world, and we have found much to celebrate. But we have not shied away from calling out where improvement is needed to bring the greatest overall benefit for the UK. The FAIR principles need to be applied more consistently, and we need a shift in culture and capabilities if the UK is to unlock the power of location.

Geospatial data is fast becoming one of the most important tools for understanding and acting on the challenges of our modern world. Across the globe, a country’s location data capability will soon be a key factor in its competitiveness and quality of life.

The government has published a National Data Strategy and a UK Geospatial Strategy with targeted interventions to unlock significant economic, social and environmental value. To deliver the benefits of these strategies, data needs to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR).

Our assessment has revealed that there is a wide adoption of FAIR principles to UK geospatial data and overall it is adequate for its current use. But there remain wider and systemic challenges to address, particularly where geospatial data needs to be better integrated to support emerging and future challenges.

John Kimmance, Managing Director, Ordnance Survey (OS) National Mapping Services, said:

It is so important that we continuously improve how customers find, access and use geospatial data. We are proud to be working with the Geospatial Commission to ensure that the foundations of geospatial in Britain are fit for purpose.

The Geospatial Commission will work with partners to agree a Code of Practice for the implementation of FAIR data. The new Code of Practice will embrace the diversity of the geospatial market to ensure that, for UK geospatial data, FAIR is transparently and consistently applied.

Peter Sparkes, Chief Executive, UK Hydrographic Office, said:

We welcome the report and look forward to continuing to take a leading role in ensuring common, international principles are applied to optimise the use, management and governance of our national marine geospatial data assets, in support of safe, secure and thriving oceans.

Simon Hayes, Chief Executive and Chief Land Registrar, HM Land Registry, said:

We are pleased to be working with the Geospatial Commission and other Partner Bodies to ensure that FAIR principles are recognised and implemented as widely as possible across the UK geospatial sector. We are continuously refining our popular portfolio of land and property datasets in alignment with these principles, to help our customers to reuse them effectively.

• Eight pilots to simplify local authority processes to speed up 4G and 5G deployment
• Telecoms firms to get easier access to public buildings and street lights, bus shelters and traffic lights in 44 English and Scottish council areas
• Comes as Project Gigabit contract bidding process opens to connect up to 187,000 hard-to-reach premises

Eight winning projects will receive a share from the £4 million Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator (DCIA) to explore how digital software can help simplify local authority processes when telecoms operators request access to publicly-owned buildings and curbside infrastructure.

Street furniture such as road signs and CCTV poles can be used to improve 4G coverage but they are also integral to the roll out of 5G, which requires a larger number of smaller ‘cell sites’ – where antennas and other telecoms equipment are placed to form a network – to ensure seamless coverage and to meet surging demand for connectivity.

However, telecoms firms can often find it difficult and time consuming to acquire the information needed to verify a structure is suitable for hosting network equipment – such as its location, physical dimensions, proximity to the street or access to a power source – which is slowing down the pace of deployment.

In response, the government will invest in piloting the latest innovations in digital asset management platforms. This software will enable local councils to more easily share data mobile companies need to accelerate their roll out plans and deliver the revolutionary benefits of 4G and 5G to people and businesses.

Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez said:

“ Everyone gets frustrated when their mobile signal is poor, particularly when patchy coverage holds up important work and social calls and makes it harder to do stuff online. That is why we are determined to get the UK the connectivity it needs by rolling out better mobile coverage as quickly as possible.

“ Currently, mobile companies are finding it difficult to get the data they need to check that a lamppost, bus shelter or public building is suitable for hosting their kit. These eight pilots will help solve this by modernising the way local authorities and operators work together in a way that ultimately delivers faster, more reliable mobile coverage for millions of people. It is all part of our joined-up strategy to deliver world-class connectivity to every corner of our country.”

5G is the next generation of mobile internet connection and offers download speeds up to 100 times that of 4G, making mobile phones much faster and able to process ever larger amounts of data. But it is also expected to broaden the role that mobile technology plays in wider society by enabling thousands more ‘smart’ devices on the street which connect to the internet and each other.

This will pave the way for new virtual and augmented reality services and help drive the take-up of new innovations such as autonomous cars and remote healthcare technologies. And it could transform the way public services are delivered – such as energy and transport – by allowing greater real-time monitoring and responsiveness in order to reduce waste, pollution or congestion.

Gareth Elliott, Director of Policy and Communications of Mobile UK, said:

“ Reducing the time it takes to deploy mobile infrastructure is important to enable mobile operators to roll out 4G and 5G across the country and to meet ambitious government targets.

“ The DCIA trial and its project winners will provide positive examples of how local authorities can use technology to speed up processes and develop effective relationships with mobile operators to improve coverage for all.”

The project means communities in 44 local authority areas can expect to benefit from faster and more reliable mobile coverage sooner. It could mean there is less need for new masts which can often take longer to build and set up. If successful, the technology could be rolled out to local authorities across the UK.

The project winners are based across England and Scotland as part of the government’s mission to level up access to fast and reliable connectivity. Areas to benefit from the pilots include Angus, Dundee, Fife, Perth and Kinross in Scotland, as well as Tyneside, Sunderland, Dudley, Wolverhampton, Somerset, Dorset and several other areas across England.

It comes as the government moves ahead with plans to connect up to 187,000 rural premises via Project Gigabit – the government’s £5 billion programme to build top-of-the-range broadband infrastructure in hard-to-reach areas.

Broadband providers have been invited to submit bids for contracts worth up to £292 million to upgrade rural homes and businesses across Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland, Cambridgeshire, Dorset and Teesdale – with initial work expected to commence later this year.

The government has also responded to a call for evidence launched in March last year to better understand the demand, benefits and barriers involved in connecting the less than 100,000 premises likely to be very hard to reach with gigabit-capable broadband, where the costs and challenges of roll out become prohibitively high.

This evidence is being used to assess policy options that will address these issues, which will be announced later this year.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• The DCIA programme will consider all types of publicly owned structures including buildings and street furniture for supporting roll out, but is particularly interested in streetlights due to their number and density.
• The eight winning DCIA projects are based across England and Scotland and will be respectively led by Dorset Council, North of Tyne Combined Authority, Scottish Futures Trust, West Berkshire Council, West London Alliance, West Midlands Combined Authority, West of England Combined Authority, West Sussex County Council.
• DCMS and the Department for Transport were jointly given £7m to fund the DCIA programme as part of HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund. DCMS is leading on delivery of the project with support and expertise from DfT.
• Full details of the winners of DCIA have been published on gov.uk
• Full details on the newly launched Project Gigabit procurements are included in the latest quarterly update
• Launched last September, the DCIA project collaborates closely with other government programmes, such as the National Underground Asset Register, to ensure alignment of data models and coordination of stakeholder engagement.