TY - JOUR

T1 - Social care legislation as an act of integration

AU - Davies, Natalie

AU - Livingston, Wulf

AU - Owen, Emyr

AU - Huxley, Peter

N1 - Welsh Government Transformation Funding

PY - 2016/6/20

Y1 - 2016/6/20

N2 - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate health and social care integration in North Wales in a short window of time between the assent of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and its implementation in 2016.Design/methodology/approach– The findings are based on the experiences of health and social care professionals from six Local Authorities and one Regional Health Board working in a management role with strategic responsibility, gathered from an online survey (n=43), semi-structured face-to-face interviews (n=14) and supplemented with reflective interviews with regional coordinators responsible for facilitating cross-organisational working (n=2).Findings– Senior managers are devoting considerable energy to understanding the implications of the new legislation, ensuring that their organisations will be ready and able to successfully implement it. This work is perceived to be commensurate with wider agendas to transform and integrate working practices and services, influenced by a range of financial, environmental, organisational, social and policy factors.Originality/value– This research has direct implications for stakeholders in North Wales, having already been used to shape conversations about integration in the region, and furthermore builds upon existing knowledge in the academic and professional field of integration, with additional limited wider implications for policy and research.

AB - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate health and social care integration in North Wales in a short window of time between the assent of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and its implementation in 2016.Design/methodology/approach– The findings are based on the experiences of health and social care professionals from six Local Authorities and one Regional Health Board working in a management role with strategic responsibility, gathered from an online survey (n=43), semi-structured face-to-face interviews (n=14) and supplemented with reflective interviews with regional coordinators responsible for facilitating cross-organisational working (n=2).Findings– Senior managers are devoting considerable energy to understanding the implications of the new legislation, ensuring that their organisations will be ready and able to successfully implement it. This work is perceived to be commensurate with wider agendas to transform and integrate working practices and services, influenced by a range of financial, environmental, organisational, social and policy factors.Originality/value– This research has direct implications for stakeholders in North Wales, having already been used to shape conversations about integration in the region, and furthermore builds upon existing knowledge in the academic and professional field of integration, with additional limited wider implications for policy and research.

KW - Integration

KW - Legislation

KW - Organizational change

KW - Care Act

KW - Transformation

KW - Social Services

U2 - 10.1108/JICA-03-2016-0009

DO - 10.1108/JICA-03-2016-0009

M3 - Article

VL - 24

SP - 139

EP - 149

JO - Journal of Integrated Care

JF - Journal of Integrated Care

SN - 1476-9018

IS - 3

ER -