ABSTRACT

South and East Belfast HSS Trust is one of 19 trusts in Northern Ireland which provide health and social care to the population. Social care is integrated with health services. As such it is different from NHS trusts in the rest of the United Kingdom where social care is the responsibility of local authorities. The South and East Belfast HSS Trust was formed from a management unit which brought together, for the first time, the areas of south Belfast, east Belfast, Castlereagh and an acute psychiatric hospital. Each area had its distinctive culture and way of working.