Continued integration of health and social care

The ongoing partnership work on integrating health and social care in the county is to continue and build on the successes so far.
County Hall in Morpeth.County Hall in Morpeth.
County Hall in Morpeth.

At its meeting on Tuesday, Northumberland County Council’s decision-making cabinet agreed to extend the partnership agreement with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for a further two years – from April 1 to March 31, 2020.

The county has, over a number of years, been leading the way nationally on both strategic and operational arrangements for the integration of health and social care.

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A report to the meeting said that this has ‘significantly supported the improved patient, public health and social care services delivered across Northumberland’.

Council leader Peter Jackson said: “When I go to other parts of the county, I realise how different we are. We are actually seen as an exemplar in the whole country about how it should be done.

“Our intention here is to build on it even further. We are actually going to come out with our policy for Extra Care services across Northumberland to make that transition between acute care and social care even more seamless than ever before.”

Coun Veronica Jones, the cabinet member responsible for health, added: “We want to continue to develop while other councils are reducing their services.”