The King's Fund has published a study calling for a major rethink on NHS reforms, to ensure closer integration of social care and health services.

The report entitled Integrating health and social care: Where next? says there should be a single performance framework, and warns that current proposals for separate outcomes frameworks for the NHS, social care and public health will threaten effective joint working at a local level, reducing benefits for patients and service-users. Although the King's Fund generally welcomes the setting up of health and wellbeing boards, it says amendments are needed to the Health and Social Care Bill to give the boards stronger powers to ensure that new GP consortia and local authorities work more closely together.