Integrated care aims to help the Irish healthcare system by bridging gaps between health and social care services to better serve vulnerable groups like the elderly. It seeks to improve system efficiency, quality of care, safety, and care continuity through clinical, professional, and organizational integration across primary, secondary, and social care levels. Challenges to integrated care include competing policy priorities, separate funding streams for health and social care, lack of evidence on effective models, and barriers to large-scale implementation and measurement of success.