GPs should play a part in helping to coordinate better services for older people and to tackle a currently “fragmented” and inadequate system of social care, say MPs.

A critical report by the parliamentary select committee on health after its inquiry into social care said that care for older and vulnerable people was still flawed by fragmented efforts between the NHS and local authorities, despite repeated calls for better joint working.

The report, published on 8 February, said that the solution was to ensure joined-up working, which would also allow the NHS to deliver the efficiency savings expected of it. The MPs called for every area of the country …