10.9 Integration, Cooperation and Partnerships

1. Introduction

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a duty to carry out their care and support responsibilities – including carer’s support and prevention services – with the aim of joining up services with those provided by the NHS and other health related services, for example, housing or leisure services.

The duty applies where the local authority considers that integration of services would promote the wellbeing of adults with care and support needs and carers, help to prevent or delay the need for care, or improve the quality of care provided in its area.

2. Integrating Care and Support with other Local Services

There is a requirement that:

• the local authority must carry out its care and support responsibilities with the aim of promoting greater integration with NHS and other health related services;
• the local authority and its relevant partners must cooperate generally in performing their functions related to care and support; and supplementary to this;
• in specific individual cases, the local authority and its partners must cooperate in performing their respective functions relating to care and support and carers wherever they can.

This applies to all the local authority’s care and support functions for adults who have care and support needs and for carers, including:

• preventing needs (see Preventing, Reducing or Delaying Needs);
• providing information and advice (see Information and Advice);
• shaping and facilitating the market of service providers;
• safeguarding (see Safeguarding Enquiries);
• cross border placements (see Out of Area Arrangements);
• transition to adult care and support (see Transition to Adult Care and Support).

3. Multi Agency Working: Preventing Abuse and Neglect

See also Preventing Abuse and Neglect

Safeguarding adults from abuse and neglect is a fundamental part of the Care Act 2014. Identification and management of risk is an essential part of any assessment undertaken by a professional working with adults.

The local authority must cooperate with its partners, and those partners must also cooperate with the local authority to provide care and support, and safeguard adults.

Relevant local authority partners include neighbouring authorities with whom they provide joint or shared services and the following agencies or bodies who operate within the local authority’s area including:

• NHS England;
• Integrated Care Boards;
• NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts;
• Department for Work and Pensions;
• the police;
• prisons;
• probation services.

The local authority must also cooperate with such other agencies or bodies as it considers appropriate in exercising its adult safeguarding functions, including (but not limited to):

• general practitioners;
• dentists;
• pharmacists;
• NHS hospitals;
• housing, health and care providers.

The importance of preventing abuse and neglect should be promoted at all times, as this can help to prevent concerns escalating to a crisis point or needing intervention under safeguarding adult procedures.

Practitioners in all agencies should be able identify safeguarding adults concerns and know the appropriate response, including considering the wishes and feelings of the adult.

4. Cooperation of Partner Organisations

Partner agencies should cooperate to:

1. promote the wellbeing of adults needing care and support and of carers;
2. improve the quality of care and support for adults and support for carers (including the outcomes from such provision);
3. smooth the transition from children’s to adults’ services;
4. protect adults with care and support needs who are currently experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect;
5. identify lessons to be learned from cases where adults with needs for care and support have experienced serious abuse or neglect.

4.1 Who must cooperate?

The local authority must cooperate with each of its relevant partners, and the partners must also cooperate with the local authority, in relation to relevant functions. Specified ‘relevant partners’ have a reciprocal responsibility to cooperate. These are:

• other local authorities within the area (in multi-tier authority areas, this will be a district council);
• any other local authority which would be appropriate to cooperate with in a particular set of circumstances (for example, another authority which is arranging care for a person in the home area);
• NHS bodies in the authority’s area (including the primary care, Integrated Care Boards, any hospital trusts and NHS England, where it commissions health care locally);
• local offices of the Department for Work and Pensions (such as Job Centre Plus);
• police services in the local authority areas and prisons and probation services in the local area.

There may be other persons or bodies with whom a local authority should cooperate, in particular independent or private sector organisations for example care and support providers, NHS primary health providers, independent hospitals and private registered providers of social housing, the Care Quality Commission and regulators of health and social care professionals.