Emergency hospital admissions increased and patients were less likely to see their preferred nurse in areas covered by the DoH's integrated care pilots, a report has found.
Some 16 pilot sites were analysed, trialling different ways of integrating care between community nurses, general practices, social services and hospitals; 9,000 patients took part.
Across all sites there was a 2 per cent rise in emergency admissions and a 9 per cent drop in the number of service users seeing their nurse of choice on a regular basis.
However, the DoH-commissioned research found patients received care plans more often and better co-ordinated care on discharge from hospital.
More than half of staff taking part in the pilots believed patient care had improved.