Effective Partnership in Health and Social Care

The provided content discusses various aspects of working in partnership across different disciplines and sectors. It highlights the benefits, challenges, and lessons learned from collaborations between trade unions and regional government, private and public sectors, teachers and special needs assistants, employers and employees, healthcare professionals, and more. The content emphasizes the importance of effective communication, trust, and mutual understanding in building successful partnerships.

Working in Partnership

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 The philosophies of working in partnership in health and social care.............................1
1.2 Evaluating partnership relationships within health and social care services....................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Models of partnership working across the health and social care sector.........................4
2.2 Current and relevant legislation partnership working in health and social care...............6
2.3 Differences in working practices and policies affect collaborative working...................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.2 Analyzing the potential barriers to partnership working in health and social care services
................................................................................................................................................8
3.3 Strategies to improve outcomes for partnership working in health and social care services
................................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Partnership in Health and Social Care is a state where all the partners have rights and they
will be affected equally with the advantages or disadvantages which arises in partnership.
Partnership develops trust, confidence, team work, etc. This report is about the philosophies of
working in partnership in health and social care in relation to identify the failures that occurred in
the residential setting and in evaluating partnership relationships within health and social care
(Daley, Matthews and Williams, 2006). Further, it covers different models of partnership
working across health and social care sector and differences in working practices and policies.
Moreover, it covers the possible outcomes of partnership working for service users and strategies
to improve the outcomes for partnership strategies.
TASK 1
1.1 The philosophies of working in partnership in health and social care
There are different philosophies in working in partnership. Following are the few
philosophies of working in partnership in health and social care:
Empowerment: In health and social care, empowerment is a process in which
individuals have power over actions and decision making regarding their health issues.
Empowerment is the foundation which develops faithful relationship between professionals and
clients. All the decisions regarding client’s health are taken by the client himself (Kirkpatrick
and et.al., 2007). Professionals put decisions given by the client into action. They will provide
suitable suggestions regarding the health of client and client is the one to make decision on his
preferred suggestions. According to the suggestions given by the professional they are giving
power to the patient regarding the choice of treatment which they prefer. Example, professionals
like Doctors provide their clients with appropriate information regarding the illness and provide
him with different options which he may adopt in order to cure the illness. Client will take the
final decision of what action has to done regarding his illness.
Effective Communication: There is a requirement to adhere with effective
communication between the agencies inclusive of healthcare companies as well as social care
workers. This will assist in provision of better outcomes for service users (Daley, Matthews and
Williams, 2006).
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Independence: It is a term of partnership in health and social care where the decisions regarding
life of a person is not taken by his family members, health professional, etc. In other words, it
means that the interdependence in partnership is between professional and client where client
takes decisions regarding his health without any pressure for anyone (Zerhouni, Sanders and von
Eschenbach, 2007). Patients should be given with freedom of choosing his choice of treatment.
Example, Family members, relatives, friends or the professionals can not pressurise the client in
taking a particular decision.
Humanity: Professional should treat their clients with proper care (The learning,
teaching and assessment of partnership work in social work education, 2015). Each patient
should be given with proper guidance so that they would feel that they will be treated properly.
Professionals should treat each client as a human and as their own family member (Higham and
Yeomans, 2010). Example, Doctors and nurses should be given proper training so that they could
understand their clients easily and could treat properly.
Equity: Each patient should be treated equally. Priorities should not be set according to
the clients’ status. Every client should be given with proper time and attention and must not be
differentiated according to their cast, creed, colour or status (Geary, 2008). According to WHO,
every patient should be given with equal opportunity to maintain and develop health. Example,
people who have high status in the society or poor people, they all should be treated equally by
the health professionals.
Trust and Respect: It is very important in partnership as both professionals and clients
work together for achieving a common goal. This relationship should depend upon the mutual
respect of each others competencies, skills, etc. Professionals should respect client’s privacy and
his emotions and need to treat him with dignity. On the other hand, Trust helps in increasing
mutual confidence. When professional suggests a solution for the client's problem and if there is
trust among them then client will go with the professional’s instinct (Boydell and Rugkåsa,
2007). Trust acts as a medicine for the client and professionals will be able to cure him with full
confidence. Example, clients suffering form HIV or AIDS, should be given more care and
attention and a trust should be created so that they have confidence on the Doctor. There should
also be a presence of respect between healthcare professionals. The should treat each oter with
dignity and should not try to derogate each other (Daley, Matthews and Williams, 2006).
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Power sharing: According to this, professional should share all the important
information about the patient. In is possible that there may be involved more than two
professional in order to handle the case of single patient (Confidentiality, 2014). So it is very
important that professionals share power in order to provide better treatment to the patient.
Collaboration: In this the professional should be supportive to his/her helper like nurses, care
takers, etc. and they should be supporting Doctors or other professionals so that they could work
together effectively and work for the betterment of the patient.
1.2 Evaluating partnership relationships within health and social care services
There are different relationships that have to be maintained in health and social care.
Partnership with service users, professional groups and organizations is explained as follows:
Service users: There are many who come under service users like children, elderly,
young people in care, people with disabilities, people with learning difficulties, people with
mental health issues patients, refugees and asylum seekers. For example, In children, there are
many causes due to which they need to concern with the health professional who support them
mentally and physically so that they would get cured with their problems. It is very difficult to
treat children as most of them do not cooperate. Professionals should develop a strong relation
with them so that they would take treatment (Geary, 2008). For example, old people suffer from
many diseases where they have to take proper care of their health. As compared with children,
elderly people cooperate with the professionals. They have fear regarding their health issue but
it’s on the care taker how he manages to develop the trust among elderly people and on the other
hand, young people mostly lack with knowledge regarding illness. They should be treated with
proper care by providing them sufficient information regarding their health issues (Zerhouni,
Sanders and von Eschenbach, 2007). There are people with disabilities to whom special attention
should be given. Their relationship with them depends on the trust (Zerhouni, Sanders and von
Eschenbach, 2007). People with disabilities don't go along with people whom they do not know.
Professionals have to develop trust in them and they should treat them accordingly (Higham and
Yeomans, 2010). There are people with mental health issues like drug addiction, social anxiety,
personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. With these people, professionals have a
relationship where they understand the problem and provide them with appropriate meditations.
Example, all the professional like Doctors, nurses and others who work under health care should
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be provided with training so that they may take care of children, adults and young people
accordingly. Training will help in understanding clients easily and effectively.
Professional groups: Under this group, it includes social workers, health workers,
educationalists, therapists, etc. A social worker is a person who helps families, individuals, etc.
to cope up with their problems which they face in improving their lives. There are many families
where there are no one to take care of. These social workers have partnership with health
professionals who help these families in improving their lives (Fox, 2012). Similarly, therapists
provide number of therapies related to health and social care like behavioural therapies which are
based on the way one thinks; psycho-dynamic therapies which is based on person’s unconscious
thoughts as well as humanistic therapy that focuses on the responsibilities, growth and self
development. These therapists develop a strong relationship with their clients and provide them a
healthy environment to overcome their problems (Daley, Matthews and Williams, 2006).
Example, NHS is the organization where GP is the agency of NHS and they are working close
with social workers which are the professionals from the Local Authority agency.
Organizations: It includes statutory, voluntary, private, independent, charitable,
community forums, etc. These are many charitable organizations that work for people with
health related issues (Featherstone and et.al., 2011). Similarly, there are many organizations
which work with partnership with the health professionals by providing client with proper cure
and through helping them in improving their lives. There are many community forums for health
and fitness which work for establishing dynamic communities which enables people to live a
healthy life. Example, Young Lives is the one that works for the betterment of young people. It
has supported many youths with providing them proper guidance and support. They have a
strong relation with the health professionals who help them in providing care and support to
these young people (Zerhouni, Sanders and von Eschenbach, 2007).
TASK 2
2.1 Models of partnership working across the health and social care sector
There is a presence of varied Models of partnership in the area of health and social care. These
include;
 Unified partnership – it is the one where combined trust with same financial system,
strategic direction, aims and objectives works to provide health and social care services to
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all (Kemp and et.al., 2007). The partnership model offers several advantages to the
patients with respect to decreased delay charges on account of intermediate care
specialists, relocation of permanent hospitals (Armstrong and et.al. 2005). It further leads
to decreased waiting time followed by enhancing the integrated working. For example, in
NHS all the professionals like Doctors and nurses work together in a unified manner so
as to attain organizational goals of reducing waiting time.
 Coordinated (multi-disciplinary partnership) – Coordinated partnership in healthcare is
the one where there is a creation of the best patient outcome. It happens as patient who is
suffering from a complex disease gets a chance to seek aid from specialists (Bousvaros
and et.al. 2007). The patient is then given a series of medical and hospital services with
the help of coordinated efforts that exist amongst the providers (Coordinated Care Model,
2015). For example, professionals like Doctors and nurses work together and support
each other’s work so as to get the best patient outcome (Kirkpatrick and et.al., 2007).
 Coalition – This model of partnership is the one where there exists collaboration between
autonomous organizations and has an absence of legal identity. Hence, all the
autonomous organizations related to healthcare work with each other so as to aid towards
quality treatment in case of patients (Boydell and Rugkåsa, 2007).
 Hybrid - In case of hybrid model, service are provided to health care users by combing
varied models. Here, none of the single model dominates over others. Hence, a mix exists
between integration, coordination and coalition models (Jarche, 2011).
2.2 Current and relevant legislation partnership working in health and social care
Legislation for health and social care are important for protecting humans. Following are
legislation towards social care, safeguarding children and young people, mental health,
disability, etc.
 Disability Discrimination Act 2005 – as per this act, all patients they should be protected
against any form of discrimination and inhuman treatment (Bousvaros and et.al., 2007).
This is as the act clearly specifies that patients have a right to receive care and high
quality treatment through responsive health care services.
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 Cares Standard Act 2000 – This act ensures that children receive proper care from a
variety of care institutions. These are inclusive of children's homes, hospitals, nursing as
well as residential care homes (Daley, Matthews and Williams, 2006).
 Data Protection Act 1998 – The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998) is an act of the
United Kingdom (UK) Parliament defining the ways in which information about living
people may be legally used and handled. The main intent is to protect individuals against
misuse or abuse of information about them. The DPA was first composed in 1984 and
was updated in 1998.
 Children Act 2004 - The main purpose of children act is to create goals so as to assist the
local authorities for regulating the interests of children.
 The Children Act 1989 – This act works for allocating the duties for local authorities,
parents and other agencies to ensure the safety and welfare of children. It is based on the
idea that children are cared the best when they are in there own families (Staples,
Gershman and Fischer, 2010). However the act further makes specifications for the
parents as well as families that do not co-operate with statutory bodies.
 Organizational practices and policies for partnership working
These are inclusive of practices, local/national policies as well as risk provisions that
are there in partnership working. The policies formulated at local and national level
act as an important source of document that iad in the process of overall
collaborative working (Armstrong and et.al. 2005). In addition, the practices further
enable towards implementation of risk assessment in health and social care. In the
partnership working the care operations are regulated by government regulations
and organizational policies. Hence, if the practices are not as per the laws then legal
actions can be taken against them.
2.3 Differences in working practices and policies affect collaborative working
There exist many differences in work practices that have an impact over the collaborative
working. These include;
 Differences in organizational goals: There are times when proper collaboration
between organizations is impacted when the firms are not able to comprehend
the goals. This lack of understanding creates differences. On the other hand, if
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there is a presence of proper guidelines then there can be enhanced
organizational effectiveness (Bousvaros and et.al., 2007).
 Cultural differences: This difference majorly exists in healthcare organizations as
the professionals come from different backgrounds and have to work in
coloration. Hence the difference in mindset due to culture leads to substantial
issues (Staples, Gershman and Fischer, 2010).
TASK 3
3.1 Evaluating the positive outcomes of partnership working for service users, professionals and
organizations
Positive outcomes of partnership
working
Negative outcomes of partnership
working
Service users Increased quality of services as the
service user gets a chance to interact
with all.
Increased communication may
make the client get overloaded with
information (Partnership health &
social care, 2013).
professionals It reduces the overall work burden There are chances with respect to
duplication of job role (Froggatt
and et.al., 2006).
organizations Increased patient and employee
satisfaction may led to enhanced sales
(Foster and Scott, 2007).
duplication of service provision,
3.2 Analyzing the potential barriers to partnership working in health and social care services
Barriers related to service users
 Lack of skills and knowledge – The service users usually lack knowledge with respect to
partnership working. Hence they may face a barrier in terms of using the services
effectively.
Barriers related to professionals
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o Attitude – The health care professionals may have a presence of their own egos with
respect to partnership working. They may not coordinate with other surgeons thereby
creating a barrier in effective working (Froggatt and et.al., 2006).
 Respect of other professional roles – The healthcare professionals has a tendency to
consider themselves superior in comparison to social care workers. This lack of respect
may act as potential barriers to partnership working.
 Sharing interest and info – The health care professionals may get vary of sharing
information with others (Working in partnership in health and social care, 2014).
Barriers related to organization
 Trusting co-organization – There may be a lack of trust in the minds of health care
professionals and social care workers towards co-organization. This can pose a
significant challenge for all (PARTNERSHIP WORKING IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL
CARE, 2015).
3.3 Strategies to improve outcomes for partnership working in health and social care services
Following are the strategies which can be adopted for improving outcomes for
partnership working in health and social care services:
 Defining roles: Staffs get confused as many times they are not clear of role which they
need to perform. For effective management of staff it is very important to define their
roles (Geary, 2008). It is very important to provide staffs with proper definition and
understanding of their roles and responsibilities. As a result, this will help them to
effectively perform in the organization (Scott, 2015).
 Training to health professionals: Proper training should be given to professional as
there are many situations where they abuse their clients, harm them, show their anger,
miscommunication, etc. For such problems training will be very helpful in providing
them with appropriate information and to be caring and generous toward the clients
(Daley, Matthews and Williams, 2006).
 Developing trust: Trust is an important factor which enables the client to be free among
the professional. If the client has trust on professional then the individual will share all
the information with the professional. Professional should develop such an environment
where client can rely on the health professional. Professional should develop a healthy
relationship with client to develop trust in him (Kirkpatrick and et.al., 2007).
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 Managing time: There will be many clients waiting for the professional to look after
them. Professional should manage the time properly so that maximum clients can resolve
their quires related to their issues (Kemp and et.al., 2007).
CONCLUSION
From this report, it can be articulated that in developing partnership with the users of the
service, they should be given the right to take decisions regarding their health issues. Moreover,
the information which they provide should be confidential. In professional groups, issues of
client should be understood and each of them should be given sufficient time so that their issues
can be solved effectively. In organizations which provide health and social care, moreover,
which provide free checkups and free operation should develop trust among the clients so that
they develop confidence that their issues will be cured. Further, the professionals should be
patient in attending the client and should not abuse them and also they should provide them will
medications according to their issue.
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