Linking in with the Care Act legislation, Health and Social Care integration is another key change project for ACS. In fact, it is one of Suffolk County Council’s key Transformation Programmes.
ACS is leading/ co-ordinating the development of the Integrated Neighbourhood Teams and the Neighbourhood Networks (the 2 main building blocks for integration). There are 2 Early Adopter sites (Connect Sudbury and Connect East Ipswich) which are adopting an integrated way of working, with a view to county-wide roll-out. The planning work underway involves a collaborative working between a number of multi-agency partners, such as Children and Young People’s service, Mental Health services, the Police, Suffolk Community Health, the Voluntary sector and the district/ borough councils. The Early Adopter sites are paying particular attention to how the teams will work in a preventative way, prioritising reablement of people so that they can maximise their independence. There is an emphasis on learning from elsewhere but also listening to the local population, and also involving managers and their staff in the design