The issue of how you bring together health and social care services is the one of the biggest challenges in local government, and never far from the newspaper headlines or cabinet papers. In recent years, the task of bringing together the worlds of health and local government have fallen to sustainable transformation partnerships (STPs). And while the creation of STPs in 44 different areas around England hasn’t been without controversy, it has helped cement the direction of travel to bring the two services together.

But with NHS services under strain following winter pressures and local government bracing itself for more cutbacks, the question arises: what is next for health and social care integration, and in particular for STPs?A roundtable recently organised by The MJ in association with Civica considered the road ahead for STPs, with contributions from both council chief executives and senior figures in health.