Community based integrated care: doing for or with communities?

Background: To address health inequalities and deliver services more effectively, there is increasing interest internationally on integrated care better connecting with communities, including those based around geographic localities and / or shared culture and faiths. This has the potential to ensure that integrated care better responds to the needs and interests of community members and support builds on informal assets based around social networks, place-based resources, and cultural capital. However, there is evidence that rather than co-producing with communities, integrated care developments can impose their structure and processes. This workshop will explore the opportunities and tensions in relation to community-orientated integrated care.

Audience: The workshop seeks to engage professionals from a wide range of backgrounds who are interested in inter-professional community-based approaches, people with lived experience of health and social care, and voluntary and community organisations. This will bring a variety of experience and insights regarding the value of inter-professional teams and their engagement with communities.

Approach: The workshop will begin with a short overview of the rationale and interest in community-based approaches to integrated care and the current evidence in relation to their impacts and implementation. The process of the workshop will also be introduced.

There will then be a short address by a community member with experience of integrated care as to what matters to them in relation to support from health and care agencies and professions.

Participants will be organised into table groups which reflect a diversity of professional backgrounds and countries. For each question, half the group will be asked to rotate to the next table to enable new connections.

The workshops will be configured around three topics which are set out below – for each topic there will be concise example of an integrated care approach which has sought to respond to this aspect (and if the workshop is chosen for a 90 minutes slot then this would allow a second example too).

These will be followed by facilitated discussion on tables with the main points of discussion being captured by a note taker.

The topics (which have been shaped in discussion with a lived experience group) are as follows:

1) How can integrated care better understand what is important to diverse communities?

2) How can integrated care support and build upon assets within communities?

3) What are the skills and knowledge needed by professionals and communities to build a successful collaboration.

There is already interest in sharing examples at the workshop from South Africa, UK and Australia.

The workshop will end with 1 point being shared from each table and final thoughts from the workshop chair and the community member with lived experience.

Outcomes: Participants will leave with a better understanding of community orientated approaches to integrated care, the related enablers and barriers and with connections with new people.

The notes will be used as the basis for a blog and / or perspective piece looking at community orientated integrated care.