Regulating and inspecting integrated health and social care

Posted on 8 October 2020

A new report from the York HS&DR Evidence Synthesis Centre at CRD has just been published, providing a comprehensive scope of the international literature on the regulation and inspection of integrated care.

In recent years, there has been a move toward a more “integrated” way of delivering health and social care, which involves better co-ordination between different parts of the NHS, and between the NHS and other organisations.

In some cases, having a more joined-up health and social care system has changed the ways in which care professionals work with each other and with the public. It also means that care is sometimes provided outside traditional settings. These changes have raised questions about how the traditional regulation and inspection of health and social care services should also change.

While we found relevant publications, very few of these provided evidence on the effects of proposed changes to regulation. There was also very little evidence of any kind on changes to professional regulation. We made recommendations about how evidence collection could be incorporated into planned reorganisations of regulatory bodies.

Rodgers M, Raine G, Harden M, Eastwood A. Regulating and inspecting integrated health and social care in the UK: Scoping the literature. Southampton: NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research Topic Report; 2020

York HS&DR Evidence Synthesis Centre