Summary: This exploration of integrated health and social care reviews the literature on models of integration from six European countries and New Zealand, assessesthe factors which help orhinder integration and considersthe implications for Scotland.An unequivocal message from the literature is that there is no single, agreed definition of integrated care. Integration can take place at a number of levels: team, service or organisation. It can apply to a small number of specialist services or to the full range of health and social care services. The body of information on integration is extensive but contains surprisingly little evidence of improved outcomes for patients. Most measures of the success of integration concentrate on criteriasuch as admissions to hospital, reduced waiting times or service responsiveness and infer benefits to service users.However, robust evidence of the impact on health outcomes is lacking.There are a large number of different models of integration. Some are based on multi-disciplinaryteam working and networks. Others involve structural reform to create single,integrated organisations. Two recent examples ofstructural integration are the TioHundra municipal company in Sweden(Norrtälje)and the Care Trusts Plus in England.Factors helping or hindering integrated working fall into three categories:Organisational issuesVision and cultureUnified budgets or structuresCommunication and ITProfessional issuesStatus and stereotypesPatient focusTraining and educationPolicy and legal issues Policy environment LegislationEmployment contracts, terms and conditions.Scotlandalreadyhas experiencein integrating health and social care services through joint future bodies, community health (and care) partnerships and managed clinical/care networks. A track record of joint working is a marker for success in integration so this previous experience bodes well. However, integration is not a quick or cheap option so if the drivers for integration are a need to reduce costs and ease pressure on secondary care, it may fail.