Creating an integrated public sector? Labour's plans for the modernisation of the English health care system

The current Labour Government has embarked on radical public sector reform in England. A so-called ‘Modernisation Agenda’ has been developed that is encapsulated in the NHS Plan—a document that details a long-term vision for health care. This plan involves a five-fold strategy: investment through greater public funding; quality assurance; improving access; service integration and inter-professional working; and providing a public health focus. The principles of Labour's vision have been broadly supported. However, achieving its aims appears reliant on two key factors. First, appropriate resources are required to create capacity, particularly management capacity, to enable new functions to develop. Second, promoting access and service integration requires the development of significant co-ordination, collaboration and networking between agencies and individuals. This is particularly important for health and social care professionals. Their historically separate professions suggest that a significant period of change management is required to allow new roles and partnerships to evolve. In an attempt to secure delivery of its goals, however, the Government has placed the emphasis on further organisational restructuring. In doing so, the Government may have missed the key challenges faced in delivering its NHS Plan. As this paper argues, cultural and behavioural change is probably a far more appropriate and important requirement for success than a centrally directed approach that emphasises the rearrangement of structural furniture.