If health professionals are to retain the mandate of trust and privilege granted by the public the spirit of openness must extend beyond peers to the public as a whole. With integrated care the health professions have an opportunity to reach out and engage the public in the pursuit of health and in the prevention and treatment of illness. To improve health care we require not only better professionals but also better systems of work. If integration is to improve the performance of a system it is necessary to attend more to the interactions than to the elements. Good health professionals do not make a good health system.
Good professionals interacting well with other elements of the health system make good health care.
If integration is to achieve its aim of socially responsive improvements in technical care, services, outcomes and costs, there is no choice but to invest in improving the interdependency among individuals, professionals and organisations. In this context, the following principles are suggested as a guide to integration and system improvement. Improvement requires clear aims for improvement. Complex systems do not improve without a clear agenda for change. Improving a system requires system leadership.