Care Trusts

Care Trusts are NHS bodies with powers to deliver social and health care to local people.

UNISON supports closer co-operation between the NHS and local government but believes there are fundamental flaws in the Care Trust model.

Care Trusts remove services from local democratic control and do not balance health and social care. Staff in social services fear a medical model of care will dominate, reversing progress made in social care towards empowering clients.

Furthermore, creating new statutory bodies involving major structural upheaval will not guarantee failing services will improve, or that successful voluntary partnerships will be transformed into effective organisations.

UNISON will continue to argue against the model, while seeking to protect the position of staff involved in Care Trust applications.

The 2001 NHS and Social Care Act allows the establishment of Care Trusts. Care Trusts can evolve out of Section 31 Partnerships, PCGs, Primary Care Trusts, or other NHS trusts delivering community services, but will be only created by local application. Fourteen 'demonstrator' sites are currently preparing applications for April 2002, October 2002 or April 2003.

Section 31 of the 1999 Health Act already allows locally agreed partnerships for pooled budgets, lead commissioning and integrated delivery.

These have already generated service improvements and should be allowed to develop as equal partnerships on a voluntary basis.