What is integrated care?

Integrated Care is a concept bringing together inputs, delivery, management and organization of services related to diagnosis, treatment, care, rehabilitation and health promotion. Integration is a means to improve the services in relation to access, quality, user satisfaction and efficiency.

Integrated care is care that is person-centred and co-ordinated. For care to be integrated, organisations and care professionals need to bring together the different elements of care that the patient or service user needs. This includes care provided at the same time or at different stages of the care pathway, to address all the patient’s or service user’s needs and to seek to improve their outcomes and experience of care.

Integrated care brings together the different groups involved in patient care so that, from the patient’s perspective, the services delivered are in a consistent and coordinated way. A person’s care may be provided by several different health and social care professionals, across different providers. As a result, people can experience health and social care services that are fragmented, difficult to access and not based around their (or their carers’) needs.

In many cases, the increased efficiency of integrated care also helps control costs. Staff shortages, continuing cost inflation and service demand have intensified the call more effective and efficient use of scarce resources through integrated service models.