Partnership Working in Health and Social Care

This assignment delves into the critical role of partnership working within health and social care. Students will analyze provided literature examining key aspects such as governance structures, service user involvement, performance measurement, and the impact of partnerships on outcomes. The assignment encourages a critical evaluation of current practices, challenges, and future directions for effective collaboration in this field.

WORKING IN
PARTNERSHIP

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Covered in PPT.......................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................1
2.2 Current legislation and organisational practices and policies for partnership..................1
2.3 How differences in working practices and policy influence collaborative working........2
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
3.3 Strategies to improve outcomes for partnership working in HSC sector.........................3
2.1 Models of partnership working across health and social care sector...............................4
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................5
3.2 Potential barriers to partnership working in health and social care services....................5
3.1 Possible outcome of partnership working for users of services, professionals and firms 6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
.........................................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Partnership in health and social care (HSC) can refer to a process in which two or more
individuals or agencies work together for getting common goals and objectives. In this, a
contract is signed by each and every party in which terms and conditions regarding business will
be written down that have to be followed by every individual working there (Cameron and et. al.,
2014). To work in partnership will be beneficial for an organisation as in this, every partner will
contribute in providing value to company and would also drive firm in right direction on the way
of success. This project is based on National Health Service which is a public company that
provides health related facilities to the needy people. This report will explain the philosophies of
working in partnership in health and social care and their relationship that can occur within
departments. It will also state about various legislation, policies and current organisational
practices along with the way it it influence the team in HSC sector.
TASK 1
Covered in PPT
TASK 2
2.2 Current legislation and organisational practices and policies for partnership
In United Kingdom, government has made various legislations regarding health and
social care sector that includes set of rules and regulations which have main motive to protect the
rights of patient and employees who are working in health care organisation. These laws have to
followed by every organisations otherwise they will be liable for penalty. There are two current
legislations and organisational practise and policies for the partnership working in health and
social care are as follows- Mental Capacity Act 2005- This law is made for protecting the rights of those person
who are not able to make plan or take decision for them. As per this act, everyone has
right to take judgement on their life so that they can live their life happily and
effectively (Dickinson and Glasby, 2010). All professionals who are dealing in health
care sector have responsibility to assess the mental capacity of an patient before taking
any decision that influence the life of an individual. All concerned authority should take
corrective action so that they can raise the living of standard of service users.
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 Children Act 1989- Government has made this act for providing safety and security as
well as to full fill the needs of children so that their future can become bright and they
can become a good citizen of the country and will contribute in the development of
economy of nation. This legislation mainly focuses on the following points that are
given below-
◦ Stay happy and safe.
◦ Be healthy.
◦ Achieve economic development
◦ Make positive contribution
◦ And enjoy and achieve. The health and social care act 2012- It is one of the main legislation in health care
sector which has main motive to control the partnership working in this industry. This
act has formed too many agencies which have main responsibility to handle partnership
(Dickinson and O'Flynn, 2016). There are also many organisations such as Clinical
commissioning group, health care system etc. who promotes collaborative working in
health care industry and also aids in maintaining better quality of services that are
offered by company.
 Care Standards act 2000- This act is established for maintaining standards at health
care organisation. Before this legislation, there are too many organisations like
commission for social care inspections, mental health board who works for maintaining
quality of service. But after introduction of this act, all mentioned firms converted into
partnership and established an enterprise whose name is Care quality commission which
have main responsibility to do auditing and maintaining the quality of service in health
care.
2.3 How differences in working practices and policy influence collaborative working
A policy includes set of activities that is designed by government or business which aids
in determining and taking any important decision. When these strategies are used by company
for collaborative working then it may influence its operations in positive and negative manner.
Positive will be happened when two organisation will work together and will get
influenced and motivated with the other's policy making. In this, strategies will make unique way
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of doing work (Fotaki, 2011). Along with positiveness, it may also create negativity in that case
when conflicts is arises between two or more organisations due to implementation of this tactics.
There are many policies which are used by different sectors for collaborative working
that are given below- NHS- It provides support to that policies which offers various courses to patient as well
as to their family such as anger management, meditations etc. Government- It has main motive to help the various sectors and their collaboration in any
form such as financial, resource allocations etc.
 Education- In this sector, schools and colleges play an important role because it provides
knowledge and information to the people.
While working in partnership in health and social care, there are various types of
differences such as types of organisations, practise and the policies of the companies etc. which
influences the work of corroborative work of businesses.
The type of organisation is one of the biggest factor which creates barrier in collaborative
functioning. For example- There are various health care organisations such as third sector
company, government firm etc. which creates disturbance in carry out their operation because
they all will operate their business on their own.
TASK 3
3.3 Strategies to improve outcomes for partnership working in HSC sector
For getting success in the business, strategy plays an important role because it directs the
company that how to carry out operation effectively and efficiently. While doing working in
partnership in health and social care, there are various strategies which is helpful in improving
outcome that are given below- Effective communication system- It is one of the best effective methods which can be
used in developing proper communication and understanding between employees in
health care partnership. It can be defined as a two way process by which information is
exchanged from one person to another (Gardiner, Gott and Ingleton, 2012). This method
may include synchronised patient or service users registration system with their personal
record which will be related to their health issues. With the help of this method,
partnership organisation will be able to get information about certain consumers easily
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and quickly because from this, they can get data from one source. It will also aid in
getting updated information about clients which can be used in future session of service.
If in an organisation, there will be proper internal communication then it will motivate
the workers to perform their job effectively and efficiently and will also aid in reducing
chances of conflicts and misunderstanding from workplace.
 Setting goals and targets- It is another best method for getting best positive result. With
the help of this technique, organisation can increase their overall efficiency and
effectiveness as well as can improve their quality of working. Health and social care
organization should assign goals and objectives individually so that everyone will give
their best for achieving their separate targets by which organisation will be able to get its
own specified objectives (Glasby and Dickinson, 2014). Employees of health care
organisation need to attain their targets in terms of work and efficiency so that expected
outcome of partnership can be achieved. So from above discussion, it is concluded that
business should set goals and targets individually so that everyone will put their best
efforts for attaining this.
2.1 Models of partnership working across health and social care sector
In partnership in health and social care sector, there are various types of models which
state about the organisation structure that are given below-
 Unified model- This concept includes management, employees and their training. This
theory is adopted by company so that it can provide better service to the needy people.
NHS adopts this model because of having following benefits that are given below-
◦ It includes all health related activities.
◦ Has separated financial system etc.
 Coalition model- In this concept, every activities are joint with other but work are done
separately. For example- management, staffing and training of employees are associated
with each other but everyone have to perform their duties individually. There is no role of
staffing in the training of employees. It has also various benefits for NHS hospital which
are as follows-
◦ In this, everyone cooperate with each other for completing a task.
◦ Work are divided to everyone so there is no requirement to have data of all activities
and the segments.
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 Hybrid model- As the name suggest that it includes the features of all above mentioned
model that is unified and coalition model.
Apart from above, there are also other models which are used in partnership in health and
social care organisations that are given below- Formal partnership- In this, a written document is signed by partners and this
partnership will be announced to the public. In this, all control of organisation is shared
so that effectiveness of company can be increased. Informal- It is just opposite of formal partnership because there is no written agreement
and this partnership does not announced publicly so it is a informal relationship. In this,
management and control of company are also different in two organisations (Glasby,
2017).
 Joint funding- It is that model where organisations get fund from same source as a joint
funding. For example- primary care trust and acute care service which got fund from
National Health Service of the country.
TASK 4
3.2 Potential barriers to partnership working in health and social care services
When two or more organisation will work together then they have to face some barriers
which decreases the effectiveness of company. So it is the responsibility of management to
remove those barriers so that service quality can be improved. Different policies- One of the biggest potential barrier is different policies of each
enterprises which creates hurdles in carry out business operations. When two or more
firm will do partnership then there will be different policies and practices that is used by
both firms which can generate hurdles in effective working (Hunter and Perkins, 2012). It
will create misunderstanding among employees regarding process which they have to
follow by them that will create unnecessary delay in taking any important decision. Different attitude and values- Other barrier is difference in attitudes, values and
behaviour of employees which will discourage the partnership work. For example- if
employees will have attitude problem then they will not like to woke with other workers
and will also not cooperate with other which will create disturbance in achieving goals
and objectives.
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 Lack of understanding of roles and responsibilities- If partners will not have any
knowledge about their roles and responsibilities then no one will be able to work
effectively and efficiently by which organisation can not attain its desired result or
outcome. Lack of communication- If in health and social care organisation, there will be no proper
communication among its members then it will demotivate the employees and then they
will not perform according to the standards. So it is the biggest barrier which should be
removed by management of company otherwise it will not be able to attain its vision and
mission statement (Lowes and Hulatt, 2013).
 Negative attitude- If members of company will have negative attitude then they will not
be able to produce expected result. So for getting best outcome, every person should have
positive attitude so that they will perform according to the standards.
Above mentioned barriers should be addressed by firm so that it can carry out its
operation effectively and efficiently.
3.1 Possible outcome of partnership working for users of services, professionals and firms
Working in partnership may have positive as well as negative outcome on an
organisations, users as well as on professionals. Possible result of collaborative functioning are
as follows-
Positive result on service users- Improved services- When two or more companies will do their work with proper
coordination then it will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the company because
both firms will use their full capacity for providing facilities to its users (Lymbery, 2010).
Negative- Frustration- With the collaboration of two firms, there will be different policies and
procedure which will create misunderstanding among its member then they will be
frustrated because they will not know which should be followed.
Positive impact on professionals- Efficient use of resources- If both companies will perform their job with proper
coordination then it will increase the efficiency of firms and everyone will use their full
capacity for getting best desired result or outcome.
Negative-
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 Miscommunication- If two enterprise will do their work together then it will increase
miscommunication among employees because one firm will say other thing and other one
will say other then it will create miscommunication.
Positive impact on organisations- Increase its efficiency- When firm will use their full potential for providing services to
their users then it will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of company by which it
will be able to get its desired result.
Negative-
 Increased cost- This partnership will increase the cost of company because it has to
spend more money for handling the management in effective and efficient manner. Such
as- with increasing operation, number of employees will also be maximize then firm has
to more money on training of them (Marmot and et.al., 2010).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that when two or more firm will work
together then it will be beneficial for an organisation because with the help of this, company will
be able to provide better quality of services to its users. There are various range of philosophies
which is used in partnership such as empowerment, independence etc. which helps in developing
services at work place. This project has also stated about the legislations which influence the
working of health care organisation such as Mental capacity Act 2000 etc. which have main
motive to protect the rights of employer as well as of employees.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cameron, A and et.al., 2014. Factors that promote and hinder joint and integrated working
between health and social care services: a review of research literature. Health & social
care in the community. 22(3). pp.225-233.
Dickinson, H. and Glasby, J., 2010. ‘Why Partnership Working Doesn't Work’ Pitfalls, problems
and possibilities in English health and social care. Public Management Review. 12(6).
pp.811-828.
Dickinson, H. and O'Flynn, J., 2016.Evaluating outcomes in health and social care. Policy Press.
Fotaki, M., 2011. Towards developing new partnerships in public services: users as consumers,
citizens and/or co‐producers in health and social care in England and Sweden. Public
Administration. 89(3). pp.933-955.
Gardiner, C., Gott, M. and Ingleton, C., 2012. Factors supporting good partnership working
between generalist and specialist palliative care services: a systematic review. Br J Gen
Pract. 62(598). pp.e353-e362.
Glasby, J. and Dickinson, H., 2014.Partnership working in health and social care: what is
integrated care and how can we deliver it?. Policy Press.
Glasby, J., 2017.Understanding health and social care. Policy Press.
Hunter, D. and Perkins, N., 2012. Partnership working in public health: the implications for
governance of a systems approach. Journal of health services research & policy. 7(suppl
2). pp.45-52.
Lowes, L. and Hulatt, I. eds., 2013.Involving service users in health and social care research.
Routledge.
Lymbery, M., 2010. A new vision for adult social care? Continuities and change in the care of
older people. Critical Social Policy. 30(1). pp.5-26.
Marmot, M and et.al., 2010. The Marmot review: Fair society, healthy lives. The Strategic
Review of Health Inequalities in England Post-2010.
Marmot, M and et.al., 2012. WHO European review of social determinants of health and the
health divide. The Lancet,380(9846). pp.1011-1029.
Millar, R. and Hall, K., 2013. Social return on investment (SROI) and performance
measurement: The opportunities and barriers for social enterprises in health and social
care. Public Management Review. 15(6). pp.923-941.
Mockford, C and et.al., 2011. The impact of patient and public involvement on UK NHS health
care: a systematic review. International journal for quality in health care. 24(1). pp.28-
38.
Munn-Giddings, C. and Winter, R., 2013.A handbook for action research in health and social
care. Routledge.
Perkins, N., and et.al., 2010. 'What counts is what works'? New Labour and partnerships in
public health. Policy & Politics. 38(1). pp.101-117.
Petch, A., Cook, A. and Miller, E., 2013. Partnership working and outcomes: do health and social
care partnerships deliver for users and carers?. Health & social care in the community.
21(6). pp.623-633.
Rigby, M and et.al., 2011. Social care informatics as an essential part of holistic health care: a
call for action. International Journal of Medical Informatics. 80(8). pp.544-554.
Online
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Developing partnering strategies 2017. [Online]. Available
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organisations/developing-partnering-strategies/>.[Accessed on 3rd August 2017].
Partnership 2017. [Online]. Available
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[Accessed on 3rd August 2017].
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