The responsibility for providing Community Care services is divided between
Local Authorities, i.e. Social Services, and the National Health Service, with
charities and other organisations meeting additional needs. For example,
national charities and charities based at a local level often provide many
essential services, as well as the Citizen Advice Bureau and other
organisations.
It is either the duty of the Local Authority (i.e. the local County or
District/Borough Council) to ensure that social care obligations are met by its
subsidiary departments (Social Services), or it is the duty of the Health Trust,
to ensure that health care needs are being met appropriately.
Although the NHS or Social Services can delegate or share funding for care,
or indeed make arrangements with other organisations or carers to provide care,
the responsibility for ensuring eligible care needs are met will fundamentally
lie with either the National Health Service or Social Services. Section 31 of
the Health Act 1999 established a partnership between the National Health
Service and Local Authority Social Services departments. The result of this is
that most Social Services teams are integrated with the health workers that
specialise in the same area, often sharing office space and working together as
a team to provide a full package of social and health care.
One of the most important and unacknowledged providers of Community Care
services are carers, who can often be providing the same level of care as an
experienced health care professional.