Miliband comes out in favour of integrating physical, mental and emotional health provision

Ed Miliband has spoken out recently to strongly show his support for a more integrated NHS. Rather than social care staying the remit of local councils, he subscribes to the idea that it should be centralised within the NHS to provide a more holistic care provision to individuals.

In contrast to the recent government focus on front-line customer service ability from nurses, Ed the Miliband of the Labour Party has spoken out in favour of a restructuring of the NHS that would combine social care as part of the wider health care structure.

It said that the NHS widely supports this idea and it's considered favourably elsewhere too; Andy Burnham, the shadow health care secretary, also favours this strategy but did not make a public pledge for it following concerns about costs.

Sir John Oldham has been commissioned to spend a year on an independent inquiry to find out how this change could be made without even more top-down reorganisation or further cost.

Ed Miliband has also been quoted as making reference to the future health care demands that, by now, are likely general knowledge to us all: society is getting older and illnesses such as dementia, diabetes and cancer are only becoming more commonplace.

He also argues that this kind of integration would save billions of pounds by working to provide preventive care rather than reactive care.

This kind of proposal follows contemporary thought on the way we should provide care combining physical health and social care within the NHS remit would make for the kind of holistic care so often quoted as favourable to patients.

The shadow care minister, Liz Kendall, has inferred that this move would also solve the issue of public money being forced to fund expensive care home stays. Sir John Oldham broadly agreed with this too, stating that it would lead to better outcomes and greater efficiency for the whole system [which] we need to bring that about.

How does this proposal stand up next to your experiences with your care users?

Do you think they would have more fluid and functional provision of health care if social services and mental health care provision were directly meshed with physical health care?

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