Integrated care staff need real-time access to specialist advice

Integrated care will need staff with generalist (or cross-profession) skills, both at case-manager and hands-on care-provision levels, because people at home will have a range of caring and health ideas that will cross professional boundaries. Each of these ideas deserves and requires specialist skills of many different kinds ranging across health professions – nursing (general, mental health, stroke rehabilitation, cancer, etc), medical, different types of therapist, pharmacist, etc – and social care. This role could be made possible if the generalist had technology-assisted access to the patient's notes, real-time access to specialists for on-the-spot advice and confirmation, etc.

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.