Joint commissioning across the primary health care-social care boundary: can it work?

General ideas about joint working have been commonplace in the UK for sever al decades and those more specifically about joint commissioning have been popular since the quasi-market reforms of the early 1990s. The Labour Gover nment is now placing a heavy premium upon 'partnership working' and expects this to breathe ne iv life into joint commissioning initiatives; especiall y those involving social care and primary health care. However, despite the relatively lengthy experience of joint commissioning, we still know very l ittle about hs rv it works in practice. This article reviews joint commissi oning as a policy concept, describes some recent research findings and pull s out messages for policy and practice. It concludes that although effectiv e joint commissioning is attainable, there can be no 'quick fix' at local l evel.