As the final report of our NIHR-funded synthesis is being prepared for publication, we've been sharing highlights from our findings - most recently, at the Health Policy and Politics Network workshop.  We focused on the Multispecialty Community Provider (MCP) model of care, introduced with NHS England's Five Year Forward View. We set out to:

  • describe the theory of change for the MCP model of care (essentially what will change and how and why it will change);
  • test this theory against available evidence;
  • explain how mechanisms in different contexts contribute to change. 

We found that integrated care models that work well are tailored to local needs and constantly evolving. They are also dependent on good connections between local people, communities and healthcare staff, especially those that allow learning from one another. Our findings suggest the following components are particularly important to sustainable change:

  • opportunities for all the different staff and service users to be involved;
  • a shared view of the benefits of working together, aligned to personal and organisational values and trust;
  • training to support integrated working.

Our findings suggest that when these three aspects come together, staff and service users are enabled to change their behaviours to improve outcomes.


This project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research, Health Services and Delivery Research Programme (project number 15/77/15).  The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Health Services and Delivery Research Programme, NIHR, NHS or the Department of Health.