On 11 June, the Health and Social Care Committee published a report outlining a series of recommendations to help deliver effective health and social care integration in the UK. Along with calling for better communication between agencies, the shelving of confusing and contentious jargon and a centralised, sustainable funding framework, the committee also gave guidance on the use of Accountable Care Organisations (ACOs).

It argued ACOs should be treated as NHS bodies. In reality, this is likely to be the case for a number of aspirant ACOs, but the report stopped short of giving clear guidance on how ACOs should be structured. This is in part to enable the decision to be determined locally, but there is a risk some valuable players, like local authorities and social care providers, could feel marginalised in the plans for implementation.