Other General Responsibilities

1. Promoting Integration of Care and Support with Health Services

Under section 3 of the Act the Local Authority must take steps corporately to ensure the integration of social care provision with health provision when it considers that this would:

1. Promote the Wellbeing of people and carers in the local area;
2. Contribute to the prevention or delay of the development of needs for care and support of people in the area;
3. Contribute to the prevention or delay of the development of needs for support of carers in the area;
4. Improve the quality of care and support for people in the area (including the quality of outcomes being met by services); and
5. Improve the quality of support for carers in the area (including the quality of outcomes being met by services).

2. Promoting Diversity and Quality in Service Provision

Under section 5 of the Care Act the Local Authority has a duty to shape an efficient and effective market of services for meeting care and support needs in the local area. The market should ensure that any person requiring such services:

1. Has a variety of providers supplying a variety of services to choose from;
2. Has a variety of high quality services to choose from; and
3. Has sufficient information to make an informed decision about how to meet the needs in question.

This is primarily a Commissioning responsibility under the Act. However to fulfil its market shaping duty the Local Authority must ensure that effective chains of communication and local information sharing exists between Commissioning, other service areas, people and carers.