Care Pathways and The New NHS

Abstract

This paper begins by discussing a definition of integrated care pathways (ICPs) that reveals their main features. It then reviews the status of care pathways within the UK and presents the results of a survey of attitudes and usage immediately prior to the general election of 1997. The paper then demonstrates the striking similarity between these features and the detailed proposals for policy and change laid out in the incoming Labour government's new blueprint for the National Health Service, The New NHS: Modern, Dependable. The paper ends by outlining the potential barriers to the successful adoption and use of care pathways and suggests ways of overcoming these difficulties so that ICPs become a powerful tool in the implementation and realization of The New NHS.