IFIC 9 Pillars of Integrated Care
People and communities as partners in care
People who need care, their family members and the communities they live in, are recognised by care providers and system decision-makers as partners in integrated care.
As partners, they have an essential role in care integration, and with other team members their distinct roles and responsibilities are explicit and valued for collaborating to achieve shared purpose.
People as partners are involved in agreeing a set of local priorities based on their shared purpose, goals and desired health outcomes.
For people and communities
People and families actively direct their own care with agency, making informed choices and influencing decisions, ensuring that care aligns with their needs, preferences, and goals. Communities have the opportunity to co-create care, redesign and participate in citizen-led planning. Community sector organisations are actively involved in integrated care as part of a drive to build new alliances to address the wider determinants of health and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities.
For care providers
Care providers organise themselves to support co-creation with individual people with care needs and communities. Care professionals work with people and communities collaboratively, sharing care planning and decision-making to deliver person-centred, coordinated and continuous care that builds on their existing health and wellbeing assets and strengths.
Care providers co-create integrated care services involving community sector organisations and the local population in the design, delivery and evaluation of the integrated care provision.
For system-level decision-makers
System-level decision-makers nurture equal partnerships and create the conditions for the local population and those who use services to co-create integrated care based on collective action. System-level decision-makers share the information they have about population health with local people and care providers and work with them to build on their existing health and wellbeing assets and strengths.
To support this, decision-makers create conditions that facilitate co-production and the establishment of new alliances for care and ensure culturally sensitive approaches to collective action, recognising power imbalances that may influence decision-making.