Welsh Assembly Member calls for health and social care services to work together

2010-02-22 11:47:33

Peter Black, health spokesman for the Welsh Liberal Democrats, has called for the country’s health and social care services to work together to provide a more efficient and cost-effective service. His article on the Wales Online website was published shortly after he launched a consultation process to discuss the way forward for community care in Wales. Mr Black points out that although health and social care services share many common aims, they are managed and funded separately, which can lead to duplicated services or, conversely a gap in a patient’s care when they are being transferred from one service to another. He gives the example of a patient who is unnecessarily detained in hospital because a care home place has not been arranged in good time – often because of conflicts over who will take responsibility and pay for continuing care after discharge. By removing this conflict, both staff and patients will have a more positive experience. He explores the option of partnering local authorities and health boards to provide jointly-run and managed services – a scheme which may shortly be trialled in Powys. Another option is for local authorities to transfer some of their responsibilities to an independent organisation, which would eradicate conflicts over duties and funding. Mr Black is inviting feedback from staff and service users on these and other possibilities in his consultation paper, which can be read or downloaded at the Freedom Central (Welsh Lib Dem) website.