Integrating Health and Social Care

Health and social care is a mix of services provided by the local council to help people who need it with their daily life. The councils decide who is eligible for support, assess care needs, arrange short-term support or reablement and safeguard vulnerable individuals. The councils can also commission a large range of care services from independent providers.

Whether you receive healthcare or social care, it is important that you are involved in the decision-making process. This will help you to have a good quality of life and ensure that your needs are being met.

The integration of health and social care is a worldwide phenomenon, shaped by history, politics, practice and social thought. However, there is a need to move beyond policy rhetoric to effective implementation.

A number of key issues need to be addressed: identifying and understanding social risk; designing and implementing interventions to address those risks; integrating social and health care; and measuring outcomes.

Trinity Health’s Community Health Worker (CHW) Hub offers a unique, patient-centered approach to the delivery of social care. CHWs are local, trusted community members who are able to identify social risks and needs through their own lived experiences. CHWs can also provide a bridge between the health and social care system and the community through their relationships with residents and knowledge of local resources.

Over the last ten years, numerous national and state programs have supported initiatives to integrate health and social care. These efforts have included screening patients for social risks in primary care clinics; establishing new cross-sector collaborations; and leveraging healthcare dollars to finance social services. health and social care