Working together for community services.

The article presents information on the arrival of the Health and Social Care White Paper, a product of the social care Green Paper Independence, Well-being and Choice. A parliamentary bill will follow the arrival, leading to a new Health and Social Care Act that will create the legislative framework to underpin further improvements to services in England. In the meantime commissioners and providers of health and social care will continue the journey that is bringing them ever closer. These proposals, with their explicit commitment to shift resources away from hospitals into community services, can expect to find a high degree of support among staff working with older people, and with older people themselves who have long supported the idea of a more co-ordinated and coherent response to their needs.