Major shake ups to the NHS will have significant implications on its relationship with social care.

Under the Health and Social Care Bill, primary care trusts will be scrapped and a consortium of GP practices will be responsible for commissioning most health services and councils to take on PCTs' public health roles.

In an effort to promote joint working between those working in healthcare and those in social care jobs, the consortium will be required to become members of new health and well-being boards which are to be set up in each local authority. The boards will be responsible for producing strategies which cover health, social care and public health, they will also promote joint working between health and social care in their areas.

Provisionally, under the bill the General Social Care Council will be abolished, which will see the Health Professions Council - renamed the Health and Care Professions Council, regulate social work in England. However, London Councils said the reforms to the NHS would only work with the full involvement of local authorities.

Colin Barrow the executive member for health and adult services told Community Care: "The proposed bill will bring about considerable change for the nation's health services and they are going to need local authorities to help steer them through this turbulent period. But we can also help them deliver a more efficient health service."

"By breaking down the barriers between health and social care, we will be able to deliver the services our residents want despite shrinking budgets."