Abstract
Background: The intersection of an ageing population, socioeconomic deprivation, and debilitated health and social care services leaves care provision in England in need of drastic transformation. Integrated Care Systems in England provide interventions for communities that are superdiverse, with new patterns of inequality and segregation influencing health policy and fiscal strategy. Despite record advances in care ingenuity and radical treatment, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted health and social care workforces, with practitioners reporting burnout, unsafe staffing levels and decreasing recruitment. To meet the demand for competent and skilled health and social care practitioners, this study seeks to examine the relationship between professional education within Integrated Care Systems and the advancement of fair and equitable health and social care for those in diverse communities.
Approach: This project employs a multi-stranded, mixed method approach to develop understanding of the requirements of underserved groups to receive fair and equitable health and social care within Integrated Care Systems and conceptualise this knowledge into a model for training professionals for use within educational programmes. Scrutiny of the available literature and scoping of available interventions in the primary phase of the study examined methods in use for training professionals within Integrated Care Systems and developed the conceptual framework underpinning the design of the current qualitative phase of the research. A constructivist grounded theory methodology has been employed to explore the perceptions and experiences of service users, carers and health and social care professionals on the provision of fairness and equity of care provided within Integrated Care Systems. This process has been co-produced with community leaders from underserved groups and health and social care professionals to ensure a collaborative and culturally competent methodology is implemented throughout.
Results: The study has identified core components of fairness and equity within health and social care, including commitments to person-centred practice, conceptualisation of integrated care within Integrated Care Systems as a driver for addressing inequalities and opportunities for culturally component methodologies to improve care provision for underserved communities. The findings from the qualitative study will be conceptualised in a co-production approach into an instructive framework for health and social care professional education.
Impact: This project provides contribution to the existing theoretical literature on the understanding of fair and equitable health and social care through a social justice lens, with a focus on groups typically underserved by traditional care provision. Examining these principles within the context of Integrated Care Systems and integrated care provides contemporary knowledge aligned to current national policy within England as well as drivers for service reformation as illustrated within the 9 Pillars of Integrated Care. In later phases of the project, the results will impact both empirical knowledge of the training curricula for use within Integrated Care Systems for fair and equitable care provision, alongside opportunity to influence policy and workforce development agenda.