True integration involves the NHS, local councils and families

Norman Lamb, Care and Support Minister and Heléna Herklots, Chief Executive of Carers UK writing in the Guardian. Families are the biggest providers of care, yet carers can find themselves cut out of decision-making and bounced between different bureaucracies

Caring is a fact of life. Whether a partner falls ill, or a parent needs support as they grow older, or a child is born with a disability - it will affect us all at some point. At times like these, families pull together to support each other. But too often they find that the services there to support them don't do the same.

Better integration can solve that problem because it leads to the NHS, local councils and mental health services working better as a unit rather than as three separate entities. When services are integrated, all that matters is making sure that older, ill and disabled people and their families get continuous care regardless of their circumstances.

True integration cannot happen without the respect and involvement of the biggest providers of care in the country - families.