On Tuesday 26 April, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Local Government will host a launch of an upcoming report on integrated local health systems from 10:00 until 12:00 in Portcullis House (Attlee Suite).
The report, Local Health Systems: Relationships Not Structures, examines what systems thinking is, practical steps that can be taken to implement these systems across local government, and how they can work to improve the way we approach complex problems. It is this final, very practical, aspect of systems thinking that the report concentrates on.
The report calls for a reinvigorated role for local government as leaders of local health systems, developing and strengthening relationships of trust, transparency and cooperation. While there is a great deal of theory about systems, the report suggests that it is only when the behaviour of commissioners and officials changes, accordingly, to take the system view into account, that it becomes useful.
Some of the key barriers toward greater integration across systems identified in the report include:
- A culture of risk aversion among many in leadership positions;
- A chronic shortage of capacity within local government;
- A broken funding system for councils
- Institutional disconnect between agencies involved in health and wellbeing.
The publication was commissioned by the Local Democracy Research Centre at the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) and made possible by Browne Jacobson.
The launch will consist of a panel discussion with a presentation on the report findings from the LGIU and Brown Jacobson along with senior leaders from the sector. Panellists will include Chris Clarkson, MP and Chair of APPG on Local Government and Dr Jonathan Carr-West, Local Government Information Unit Chief Executive. Gillian Keegan MP, Minister of State for Care and Mental Health, has been invited to address the group on these issues.
Attendees will include parliamentarians, council leaders and chief executives.
Please contact rsvp@lgiu.org to RSVP and for any further questions.
