By Caroline Glendinning, Bob Hudson and Robin Means.Relationships between the NHS and social care services over the past 25 years have a poor history. This article examines the strategies that have been used by central government and by local NHS and social care organizations to overcome difficulties of service co-ordination. The authors conclude that policies reflecting ‘networked’ modes of governance may stand the best chance of success, although evidence of improved impact and outcomes still remains scarce.

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There are early signs that the Government’s Key Worker Living Programme is helping to tackle the problems of recruitment and retention of key workers, such as teachers, nurses and police officers in some areas, according to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. It has published “Key Worker Living Evaluation: Early Findings”, which show, too, that the programme offers good value for money for key workers.The report says that the majority of employers interviewed for the research thought the scheme was having a positive effect on improving their recruitment and retention as well as bringing improvements to their services in the medium and longer-term. The research is based on an analysis of monitoring data from so-called ‘zone agents’ and interviews with them and with employers and other stakeholders.

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The National Health Service has launched the world’s most comprehensive database on the prevalence and management of common chronic diseases. It is made up of results from a new GP payment system and is expected to make NHS family doctors world leaders in the management of common chronic diseases and, in the longer term, to help the NHS deal with health inequalities by targeting those people who are at risk and using resources accordingly.The launch came as doctors were congratulated for delivering high quality services as other results from the new payment system – the Quality and Outcomes Framework – showed patients were receiving a high standard of care and treatment from their local GP practices.

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