Nursery World - Strained relations (1)

Why are local authorities and health services bickering over their obligations to children's centre services? Simon Vevers reports

Partnership working between local authorities and health professionals has been regarded as central to the integration of services for children and families. Now with health agencies legally obliged to co-operate in the provision of services to children's centres, that link is more important than ever.

But while there are many examples of good joint working between the NHS and local government to drive forward the process of integration, there are also signs at national level of profound tensions between them.

A very public spat began in March, with the Local Government Association (LGA) saying that NHS deficits were 'hurting social care services provided by councils to vulnerable people'.

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