Understanding
integrated care
This section of the framework is a broad overview of the model of integrated care which supports the changes in local communities.
What Is Integrated Care?
The idea of integrated care is that it is designed to support people with complex and ongoing needs by giving the person the support they need, joined up across local councils, the NHS, and other partners.
It is a person centred approach which brings together the support and care which a person may need to support their physical health and mental health. Physical health may include the impact of medication, exercise, diet, a long term condition as well as their motivation to recover, impact of self care and social impacts of managing their mental health on employment, housing, finances etc.
Through integrating services the “whole-person” can be looked after rather than elements of a person’s health and wellbeing been managed in several different ways. Focusing on prevention as well as care is also an important element of providing advice and support to service users.
New and extended roles have been introduced to support integrated care such as peer support workers, care co-ordinators, link workers, community development workers etc.. The purpose behind such roles is to help consider the mental as well as physical aspects of a person (mind and body) and look for opportunities to support their treatment, care and recovery through community support as well as traditional support through the NHS and Social Care.
Supporting Service Users | Patients
Mental health care can often be viewed as disconnected from the wider health and social care services. Potential or perceived boundaries between services can mean sometimes individuals do not receive a co-ordinated approach to their physical and mental health and their wider social needs. Very often they will receive different advice dependent upon the service or support accessed.
Integrated care is a fundamental element of the new ways of working in the Community Mental Health Framework covered in this section. Enhancing the knowledge of mental health across the wider health and social care workforce is also key to ensuring integrated care is implemented and assists in reducing health inequalities.