Partnership Working in Health and Social Care

This assignment explores the concept of partnership working within the context of health and social care. It examines various theoretical frameworks, practical examples, and challenges associated with collaborative practice. Students are expected to analyze relevant literature, draw upon real-world experiences, and synthesize their understanding to demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of the topic.

Working in partnership

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.2Reviewing current legislation and organizational practices and policies for partnership
working in HSC...........................................................................................................................3
2.3Effect of differences in working practices and policies on team work in collaborative
working........................................................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.3 Devising strategies to improve partnership working in health and social care......................5
2.1 Analyzing different partnership models that exist in health and social care.........................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
3.2Analyzing the potential barriers to partnership working in HSC...........................................7
3.1 Evaluating possible outcome of partnership working for professionals, service user and
organizations................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
Working in partnership is the crucial aspect which assists the organization to work with
integrity and provide good quality of services. With the help of joint work, doctors and therapists
get immense support to resolve issues faced by the service users. Present report is based on
different scenario of working in partnership in which the emphasis is laid on philosophies of
collaborative working in health and social care (Bakar and Mustaffa, 2013). Furthermore,
partnership relationships among different department of health and social care have been
evaluated. In addition to this, potential barriers to combined working in health and social care
services are analyzed in an effectual manner. Moreover, different models of partnership that can
exist in health care organizations are evaluated.
TASK 1
(Covered in power point presentation)
TASK 2
2.2 Reviewing current legislation and organizational practices and policies for partnership
working in HSC
There is a legal framework for working in partnership which needs to be followed by
every partnership organization so as to cater the requirements of users in an effectual manner
(Rogers, 2011). The following listed policies and regulatory framework ensure ethical conduct of
partnership work which are specified as follows- Care Quality Commission Regulation 2009- Under this, Care Quality Commission
ensures that care settings of UK render good quality of services to its users. This act
facilitates in reducing abuses, accidents and unethical work that take place in
corporation. Owing to this, partnership organization follows the standards which are set
by this act (Willcocks, 2008). Furthermore, CQC supervises care setting time to time and
prepare report for specific issues that occurs with users and general community. Care Standard Act 2000- The care standard act is based on specific aspects such as
regulation on management, operation of independent health care organization and code
of conduct of all related agencies. Accordingly, partnership work gets affected because
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in case of default, users have the right to take legal action against care setting (Campbell,
2009). The Health and Social Care Act 2012-It is the most important act which specifies rules
and regulation with regards to ethical conduct in health care setting. Such kind of act
helps in improving quality of services and enhancing accountability of service users.
 Children Act 2004-Under this, local authorities give power to children in order to
provide them with safety. It enables the children to feel safe and provide good quality of
services. It further renders special protection for vulnerable people or adults who cannot
take care on their own
Apart from this, different policies and practices like safeguarding boards and mental
health and youth offending teams are also included (Authority, 2014). Furthermore, government
body examines overall working of health care organization to cater the need of all related parties
like service users, general community and government as well as nation. Therefore, all the above
specified practices and policies must be followed by health care settings working in partnership.
It further leads in ensure successful operation of health care organizations.
2.3Effect of differences in working practices and policies on team work in collaborative working
There are different working practices and policies which affect the team work in health
care settings. However, collaborative working means rendering collective efforts to achieve
desired objectives but because of some working practices and policies, health care organization
is affected to a great extent- Roles and responsibilities- Working in partnership give rise to conflicts among team
work due to inclusion of people from different organization. The people working in a
team have differences related to education and qualification as well as pay scale (Beales
and Platz, 2008). Owing to this, state of confusion can take place among team which
could affect the service quality. For example, a person working in a care home as doctors
may be treated like team member in other organization. Although, such kind of issues
take place when other health care organization have highly competent workforce. This
might create problem in delivering services to the users. Communication-Different procedure are used for inter department communication. But
when collaborative working takes place then it can create issues in floating information
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among each department. Ineffective communication is the main reason behind low level
of satisfaction among employees as well as service users (Boydell and Rugkåsa, 2007).
Thus, upgraded technologies are used for effective communication among each
department. Cultural differences- All the health care settings, diagnostic centers have their own set of
beliefs, values and assumption as well as culture. At this juncture, collaborative working
takes relatively extensive time to provide comfort zone for the workforce or nursing staff.
For resolving such kind of issues, health care settings promote teams and adopt culture
diversity. This proves to be effective in retaining personnel for longer time span and
delivering higher level of satisfaction among patients (Fisher, 2003).
 Differences in organizational structure-Every organization has different company
structure like flat, matrix etc. But when the concept of collaborative working takes place
then management faces problem in managing the work. For this purpose, employees are
provided with training to work with concentration (Fowler and et.al., 2012).
All of the above mentioned criteria must be taken into account for promoting successful
partnership in health care organizations.
TASK 3
3.3 Devising strategies to improve partnership working in health and social care
According to the given case study, collaborative working is not effective in case of
mental health team. Here, the main issue which is faced by organization is regarding
coordination which is creating problems in delivering good quality of services to its users (Estes
and Harrington, 2008). At this juncture, one of their clients made complaint to CQC that mental
health trust does not provide appropriate services. At this juncture, different following strategies
can be used to improve partnership working- Shared decision making-It is the most imperative aspect under which mental health trust
needs to ensure inclusion of views from different people involved in the team. It enables
them to work with motivation because positive attitude will be generated among them if
they participate in the decision making process. To make these possible meetings can be
organized where role of each member will be defined in clear and concise manner so they
can work with integrity (Gajendran and Brewer, 2012).
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 Strategy of shared responsibility- This is another significant strategy used by the
management of hospitality. Here, occupational therapist, psychologist, social workers and
community psychiatric nurses (CPN) are asked to fulfill the shared responsibilities. They
are motivated by providing training. Work upon the common purpose- Purpose should be known to each team members and
they all must work upon the same. Here, local community’s mental health team and
mental health trust staff caters need of the services users effectively. They should be
motivated in accordance with target as well as rewards for achieving the same (Holmes,
Creton and Chapman, 2010). These aspects help in developing positive attitude among
workforce and they try to work with better coordination in team.
 Appointing professional leader-Appointing professional leader is another effective
strategy under which all team members can get guidelines to work effectively in the
organization. It is because team leader is the one who serve as the source of
communication and motivation for the workforce. Owing to this, teams of collaborative
working must have leader which helps in improving services quality and issues faced by
the clients or patients (Haworth and et. al., 2002).
2.1 Analyzing different partnership models that exist in health and social care
There are different partnership model exist in health and social care. It is applicable by
management of hospitals to carry out all business activities in a right manner. These models are
explained as follows-
Coalition model
This model highlights self interest of corporation included in the partnership. It depicts
that corporations work as partners but render services independently. But social care settings
work for common purpose to achieve their specified objectives (Moss, 2012). It consists of local
health care areas agreement and local health care strategic partnership. This aspect facilitates in
addressing common issues faced by the users.
Unified model
Under this model, organization working in partnership tends to have single financial
system and strategic direction. They set objectives commonly and then adopt different strategies
to achieve the same. It helps in reducing cost of production and takes relatively less time in
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rendering good quality of services to the end users (Kak, 2010). In addition to this, relocation
and infrastructure facilitates of hospitals can be arranged in an effectual manner.
Coordinated model
This model ensures inclusion of functionally specialized structure where organizations
work on the basis of the self interest. All corporations coordinate with each for some of the
imperative aspects like managing services, training staff members and allocation resources etc.
By using such kind of model, corporation support in reducing impact of diversified culture and
motivates staff members to perform better (Dale, 2008). Furthermore, coordinated models lead
to increase satisfaction of workforce because they can easily achieve high service quality.
Therefore, all of the above models exist in partnership of health and social care
organization. It facilitates to ensure their successful operation.
TASK 4
3.2Analyzing the potential barriers to partnership working in HSC
The potential barriers to partnership working in HSC are witnessed regularly. It is
because of association of different aspects like poor communication, lack of coordination and
unskilled partners. According to the given case scenario, Mrs Marry who is in need of permanent
nursing placement is being cared hardly at home. Her family member is requesting to care
manager (Joe Simpkins) for sorting this issue as soon as possible. However, because of lack of
nursing beds in nearby areas, care manager is not able to resolve the problems. However, district
nurses come regularly to visit Mrs Marry and they filed complaint to community health
partnership unit.
At this juncture, nursing staff found that there was a miscommunication regarding
severity of health condition of patient. It reflected that one of the most potential barriers is
related to poor communication. Further it affects the quality because patients are not provided
care on the right time. It highlights ineffective management of collaborative working (Matin,
2006). Furthermore, case also shed light on lack of coordination among care manager and the
district nurses. It is the main reason that nursing staff complaint to partnership unit. In addition to
this, it might be possible that care manger was not willing to share information to other
partnership agencies. Owing to this, family of Mrs Mary was not under pressure of taking her
care. In addition to this, lack of clear vision and proper direction, partnership organization cannot
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work well through which the expectations of client is not met on the right time (Partnership
working, 2016).
Apart from this, different partnership philosophies are one of the common issues through
which partnership work got hampered. In this regard, management of hospitals is required to take
care of such kind of common issues like time commitment, information sharing and appropriate
leadership. It aids in resolving conflicts which generally take place among different partners of
corporation. Furthermore, through this coordination will be increased which will prove effective
in providing relief to family of patients like Mrs Mary.
3.1 Evaluating possible outcome of partnership working for professionals, service user and
organizations
There are different positive outcome for different parties working jointly. It has been
explained as follows- Professionals- Collaborative working is very helpful for professionals like doctors,
therapists and nursing staff. This is because they get chance to learn new ways of
completing their work or rendering services. Furthermore, professionals get more
information related to working in diversified culture and gaining rich experience by
working with highly competent workforce (Moss, 2012). Apart from this, working in
partnership is also effective for professionals by providing them with knowledge
regarding use of different kind of technologies. Service users-Collaborative working is useful for services users because it helps in
getting good quality of services from the competent workforce. It helps in taking
relatively less time in accessing desired services. Working in partnership makes it
possible for nursing staff to focus on different issues of services users. It helps to resolve
issues in less time and cater the need of service users in an effectual manner. In addition
to this, users are treated with respect and they are provided services in accordance with
their preferences (Fisher, 2003). However, it has been also observed that principle of
equality has been ensured. But because of lack of coordination and communication, users
face problems in getting services on a right time.
 Organizations-Working in partnership is helpful in enhancing service quality because of
inclusion of number of corporations like care home, test centers and institutions. It assists
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in fulfilling the desires of large number of buyers to enhance their level of satisfaction. In
addition to this, combination of different organization makes it possible to include health
experts who have knowledge of different fields or disease (Kak, 2010). This aspect tends
to implement change in relatively less time. Apart from this, standard regulations
imposed by the government may face issues for partnership organizations at the initial
stage.
Thus, partnership organization brings both positive and negative aspect for health care
organizations, professionals as well as services (Petch, 2012). But, corporations try their best to
remove negative aspect and bring coordination among each department.
CONCLUSION
The aforementioned report concludes that collaborative working helps in reducing cost of
operation to a great extent and provides wide range of services. This enables the management to
cater need of users in a right time. It can also be said that unified and coordinated models are
helpful in successful running of partnership working. Furthermore, working practices and
policies are different which affect collaborative working. At this juncture, organization is
required to focus on the same. In addition to this, some of the potential barriers related to
communication and coordination need to be resolved on right time.
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REFERENCES
Journals and books
Authority, S. Q., 2014. Working in partnership. SAGE
Bakar, H. and Mustaffa, C., 2013. Organizational communication in Malaysia organizations:
Incorporating cultural values in communication scale. Corporate Communications: An
International Journal. 18 (1). pp.87 – 109.
Beales, A. and Platz, G., 2008. Working in partnership. Learning About Mental Health Practice.
p.39.
Boydell, L. R. and Rugkåsa, J., 2007. Benefits of working in partnership: A model. Critical
Public Health. 17(3). pp.217-228.
Campbell, S., 2009. Working in Partnership. HNE Handover: For Nurses and Midwives. 2(1).
Dale, N., 2008. Working with families of children with special needs: Partnership and practice.
Routledge.
Estes, C. and Harrington, C., 2008. Health Policy: Crisis and Reform in the U.S. Health Care
Delivery System. 5th ed. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Fisher, A., 2003. Folens GCSE Health and Social Care: Double Award. Folens Limited.
Fowler, C. and et.al., 2012. Working in partnership with parents: the experience and challenge of
practice innovation in child and family health nursing. Journal of clinical nursing. 21(21-
22). pp.3306-3314.
Gajendran, T. and Brewer, G., 2012. Cultural consciousness and the effective implementation of
information and communication technology. Construction Innovation: Information,
Process, Management. 12(2). pp.179 – 197.
Haworth, E., and et. al., 2002. GCSE Health and Social Care for Edexcel: Double Award.
Heinemann.
Holmes, A. M., Creton, S. and Chapman, K., 2010. Working in partnership to advance the 3Rs in
toxicity testing. Toxicology. 267(1), pp.14-19.
Kak, F., 2010. Policy Makers and Bedouin Health Provision. International Journal of Migration,
Health and Social Care. 6(3). pp.31-358.
Moss, B., 2012. Communication Skills in Health and Social Care. SAGE.
Petch, A., 2012. Tectonic plates: aligning evidence, policy and practice in health and social care
integration. Journal of Integrated .20(2).pp.77–88
Rogers, C., 2011. Partnership working in the ‘Big Society’. Safer Communities. 10 (2). pp. 26 –
31.
Willcocks, S., 2008. Clinical leadership in UK health care: exploring a marketing perspective.
Leadership in Health Services. 21(3). pp.158–167.
Online
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Matin, J. P., 2006. Partnerships in Health care. [pdf] Available at:
<http://www.quaybooks.co.uk/Content/Site121/FilesSamples/642978185642306_0000000
0301.pdf> [Accessed on 26th February 2016].
Partnership working. 2016. [Online] Available at:
<http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/partnerships/about/index.asp>
[Accessed on 26th February 2016].
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