Barriers and facilitators to integrating care: experiences from the English Integrated Care Pilots

Authors:
LING Tom, et al
Journal article citation:
International Journal of Integrated Care, 12(3), 2012, Online only
Publisher:
International Foundation for Integrated Care

In response to the perceived need to provide better integrated care, in 2008 the Department of Health appointed 16 Integrated Care Pilots which used a range of approaches to provide better integrated care. The aim of this article is to report on part of the multi-method national evaluation of the 16 Integrated Care Pilots. Specifically, it describes a qualitative analyses aiming to identify barriers and facilitators to successful integration of care. Data were analysed from transcripts of 213 in-depth staff interviews, and from semi-structured questionnaires completed by staff at 6 points over a 2-year period. The findings show that many barriers and facilitators to integrating care are those of any large scale organisational change. These include issues relating to leadership, organisational culture, information technology, physician involvement, and availability of resources. However, activities which appear particularly important for delivering integrated care include personal relationships between leaders in different organisations, the scale of planned activities, governance and finance arrangements, support for staff in new roles, and organisational and staff stability. A 'routemap' is presented which identifies questions that providers may wish to consider when planning interventions to improve the integration of care.

Subject terms:
integrated services, leadership, organisational culture, change management, evaluation;
Content type:
research
Location(s):
England
Links:
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ISSN online:
1568-4156

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