Closer working by GPs and social workers could save £1.6bn a year

The Royal College of General Practitioners and the College of Social Work have set out how more integrated working by GPs and social workers could save the NHS and social care £1.6bn (€2bn; $2.6bn) a year.1

Better working relationships between GPs and social care could prevent 60 000 people a year from going into residential care, saving £600m in social care costs, and save the NHS £1bn a year, say researchers at the University of Birmingham and the consultancy iMPOWER.2

The researchers’ Home Truths project is looking at how closer working between GPs and social workers in …