The Department of Health has launched a consultation on:

• improving care and support for adults and
• helping them choose services better suited to their needs

through improvements in sharing and the use of information between different social, health and commuinty services.

Any changes to the current arrangements would be of major relevance to older people because of their reliance on these services.

The consultation focuses on:

• the reasons for improving information;
• the principles behind assessment and care planning;
• what information should be shared;
• what IT arrangements would allow appropriate consent, confidentiality and security.

The Department of Health's document: Common Assessment for Adults a consultation on proposals to improve information sharing around multi-disciplinary assessment and care planning, can be downloaded from

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_093438