Better Collaboration Across Health and Care, says NCF Head

Speaking to healthcare leaders that the NHS Confederation Expo Professor Vic Rayner OBE CEO of the National Care Forum – the leading association for not for profit social care providers – called for greater collaboration across health and social care to improve out of hospital care and provide more support to people closer to home.

Providing an overview of the ongoing challenges facing the health and social care sector, Rayner stressed the need for innovation in developing new community care models that can meet a changing society post Covid, to address the needs of groups of people who have been left out or excluded from the health and care agenda.

Confed Expo brings together health and care leaders to spread learning, encourage innovation and foster networks to inspire change at all levels across the system. The two-day conference, which ended today at ACC, Liverpool, saw the NCF head urge health colleagues of the importance of having social care providers represented at Integrated Care Board level to ensure that new community care models have every chance of success on the ground and are effectively coordinated and joined up.

“The social care reform paper has huge ambitions to enable integrated care and health for people. Yet there must be robust social care voices at the top table and opportunities for social care providers to share their wealth of knowledge and expertise at the heart of the health and care system”, said the NCF head.

Rayner also called for more investment in the social care workforce and for the urgent need of a fully funded People Plan for social care that provides clear career progression, better recognition, terms and conditions and investment in training and development.