Working in Partnership: A Comprehensive Analysis of Partnership Working in Health and Social Care

This report delves into the philosophy of working in partnership within the health and social care sector. It examines the importance of partnership relationships, analyzes various models of partnership working, and reviews current legislation and organizational practices. The report also explores the potential outcomes of partnership working, identifies potential barriers, and proposes strategies to improve outcomes for service users, professionals, and organizations. A case study of Mr. Ian is used to illustrate the concepts and challenges discussed.

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP
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Executive summary
The philosophy of working in partnership is explained in this report. The importance of partnership
relationship in health and social care organization will also be included in this report. Hence, the
models of the partnership relationship across the health and social care services will also be included
in this report for attracting more attraction of the readers. Moreover, current legislations and
organizational policies and practises will be reviewed. This report will also outline the differences in
working policies and practices in health and social care organization. Possible outcomes of
partnership relationship, the potential barriers and the strategies will also be included in this report for
offering a clear idea to the readers. Moreover, a case study over Mr. Ian will be used to provide all of
the answers of this report. All of these will be included in this report for improving outcomes for
partnership working in the health and social care services.
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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4
Section A...............................................................................................................................................4
Explain the philosophy of working in partnership in health and social care..........................................4
Independence.........................................................................................................................................4
Respect..................................................................................................................................................5
Empowerment.......................................................................................................................................5
Evaluate partnership relationships within health and social care services..............................................5
Section B...............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Analyse models of partnership working across the health and social care sector.............................6
Unified model........................................................................................................................................6
Hybrid model.........................................................................................................................................7
Co-ordination model..............................................................................................................................7
2.2 Review current legislation and organizational practises and policies for partnership working in
health and social care.............................................................................................................................7
The Mental Health Capacity Act 2005..................................................................................................7
Health and social care act 2012.............................................................................................................7
References.............................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
In this modern era, health and social care has become the backbone of all health services, which
mainly focuses on the creating a healthy society. On the other hand, working in partnership is another
important thing, where several professional sectors and the service users work together in order to
achieve a common goal. Hence, this working in partnership is such needed in health and social care
services in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health and social care services.
Hence, this report will evaluate the philosophy of working in partnership. Moreover, the partnership
relationship within the health and social care services, models of partnership working and current
legislation and organizational practises will also be included in this report for offering a clear idea to
the readers. Furthermore, this report will also outline the possible outcomes of partnership working,
the potential barriers to partnership working and strategies in order to improve outcomes for
partnership working in health and social care services.
Section A
Explain the philosophy of working in partnership in health and social care.
Working in partnership allows people from the various professional sectors and the service user’s
work together in order to achieve a common goal. Working in partnership can play a crucial role in
getting the benefit from pooled expertise, power sharing and resources. In the context, partnership has
the main goal of enhancing the efficiency, quality and effectiveness of the service provision.
Partnership working with the service users like independence, empowerment, making informed
choices, power sharing, autonomy and respect in order to meet the needs of the individuals.
Independence
Independence is while an individual have the ability of taking his own decisions without the control of
any other and family members. This allows them to live a fulfilled life, choices of services and type of
support they need. On the other hand, promoting independence allows individual to be secured and
confident in their ability of carrying out their all activities. In case of Mr. Ian, it has been observed
that all types of independence was being given to him nevertheless it was not improving his life such
as referring him to a rehabilitation centre or a day centre where he will meet some like-minded
patients who are going through the same situation as like him. Hence, there was no activity in order to
keep him busy. Moreover, no one organized activities for him that could take off his mind away from
the alcohol. In this case, both of the written and verbal communication was not used.
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Respect
Respect is considered as the process of treating people with politeness, courtesy and kindness,
encouraging co-employees in order to express their ideas and expression, using people’s idea in order
to change or develop work and listening to what others want to actually say before expressing the
viewpoint of one. People should treat the service users with politeness and courtesy respecting their
privacy and the dignity. In case of Mr. Ian, he has given respect instead of empowerment. Moreover,
the professionals were not clear of their roles and responsibilities, as they were not working like a
team. Neither follow up or review, nor effective communication, proper care plan and monitoring/
recording in place. Consequently, there were no co-ordination in place.
Empowerment
Empowerment helps to enhance the power of individual through encouraging them in order to carry
out a plan that they normally cannot perform (Kunen, 2014). Hence, as per the researchers, this is the
process of becoming more confident and stronger in controlling the life of an individual.
Empowerment is when individuals feel that they are powerful and able enough in order to make
decisions in certain situations. It is also possible that individuals will show their intention in relying
on careers and caregivers. In case of Mr. Ian, it has been observed that Mr Ian was not empowering
through the professionals. Hence, an advocate was also not provided to him, who can present his
cause. Moreover, all of the professionals were concentrating on Mr. Ian’s alcohol problem. They were
not giving their focus on finding any solution.
Therefore, as a health care organization, procedures and policies including legislation need to put in
the place in order to ensure employees followed them. On the other hand, proper training is needed to
be given to the staffs for getting the best result. Furthermore, monitoring, supervision and staff
appraisal should be in place. Effective system of recording, and hand over are another important
factors that are needed to be in place. Hence, understanding the roles and responsibilities of each
employee is also very important in order to offer better service to the patients. Team work and co-
ordination are also needed in order to fulfil the needs of the patients.
Evaluate partnership relationships within health and social care services.
It is possible to form partnerships between several individuals, organizations or agencies with a shared
interest (Lee, J.A. and Hudson, 2017). Moreover, partnerships often form in order to address the specific
issues. Issues may be based on short or long term. Hence, partners should co-ordinate, communicate
and co-operate for achieving a good co-ordinated service. Three levels of partnership relationships are
followed below,
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The organization level is generally working with other organizations in partnership like social
services working with the community etc. a wide range of benefits are included in this such as shared
policies, exchange of information, implementation of good practises, making sure policies, better care
for service users and procedures aligned with the vision of the organization. All of these will help to
eradicate organizational issues that are creating difficulties in the organization. Confusion and
disagreement can be caused through poor health care deliveries and different strategies.
The professional level is working in the partnership with other professionals in order to offer care
through sharing knowledge and have a common target for the requirements of the service users.
Hence, effective communication, shared ideas, learning from each other, provision of effective
delivery services and co-operation should rely amongst the professionals, who are working to achieve
a common goal (Bhattacherjee and Lin, 2015). Although there are few negative effect over the
professional level such as ego, power struggle, conflict in philosophies, lack of commitment,
ineffective communication and lack of understanding. In case of Mr. Ian, professionals did not follow
monitoring, safeguarding. Hence they did not focus on making any solution of the problem.
Eventually, there was poor communication and confusion, which was faced by Mr. Ian.
The service user level comprises several service users such as learning disabilities, adult, young
children, mental health, and autism and so on. Therefore, it can be considered as the relationship
between the professionals and the service users. In case of Mr Ian, none of the professionals were
working as a team. Hence, there were confusion and lack of co-operation in their working procedure.
Lack of clarity of their roles and responsibilities are also another cause.
Section B
2.1 Analyse models of partnership working across the health and social care sector.
Partnership models are ways in which professionals, organization and service users’ work together in
order to achieve a common goal. There several models of partnership, few of them are followed
below,
Unified model
It is a single type integrated system where all of the systems are synchronized (Armour et al., 2015). It
is possible that they may be delivering several services nevertheless they are working in the same
systems in order to achieve a common goal.
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Hybrid model
The unification of all of the models are comprised by this type of model (Craig et al., 2015). This model
mainly for indicating the EEC (Early Excellence Centre) that is operating with a mixture of the all
models in order to achieve its full range of services.
Co-ordination model
In this type of model, different organizations get the chance of sharing their ideas, training etc.
although, they are individually distinct nevertheless they work together in partnership. It is also
possible to enable empowerment, shared vision and objectives, informed choices and shared
information through implementing this model in the organization. Moreover, this model helps to
improve operational efficiency through avoiding overlapping work’s duplication efforts.
After understanding the importance and roles of various models, it can be said that Co-ordained
model will be the best choice that can be used to improve the health condition of Mr. Ian.
2.2 Review current legislation and organizational practises and policies for partnership working
in health and social care.
Legislation is considered as the set of laws that are made by the government in order to govern the
action groups and people in the private and public organizations (Murrell and McCalla, 2016). This is
used in order to regulate activities, supply resource, authorise certain actions and deny or permit
certain activities.
The Mental Health Capacity Act 2005
This act empowers and protects people those who are suffering from lack of capacity to make
decisions (Murrell and McCalla, 2016). Hence, this act applicable to people, who are aged 16 and over
than 16. Moreover, many of the decisions are covered by it like day-to-day things such as what to buy
or what to wear for weekly shop in order to move into a health care home. Brain injury, mental health
illness, dementia, stroke or learning disabilities all are included in this act. Hence, it does not
necessarily mean that the people will not be able to make specific decision those who are having one
of these problems.
Health and social care act 2012
Health and social care act is an important and essential legislation that brought a huge change in NHS
(PLOS Medicine Staff, 2018). This act is made in order to make and establish provision about a national
health services commissioning board. New freedom should be given to NHS providers in order to
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improve the quality of care and for establishing a provider regulation for promoting effective
provision, economic and patient voice (Bernal et al., 2017). Hence, they are needed to strengthen the
role and responsibilities of the CQC.
In case of Mr. Ian, none of the professionals helped Mr. Ian for accessing good services delivery that
is the requirement of all of these legislations. Consequently, it is very essential and important that
health and social care employees must have the working knowledge of the laws and principles. Hence,
it is also important to apply all of them in their work place for getting the best outcome.
2.3 Explain how differences in working practices and policies affect collaborative working. in
the health and social care region.
The idea of collaborative working represents alliance between two or more companies,
groups or organisation in order to deliver the same output. In case of Mr. Ian there has
been a collaboration of various people and departments, the people and departments
involved in this case are professional therapists, the volunteers and workers participating
in the case, the concerned local authority and the team which deals with the psychological
evaluation of the individual. Out of these certain departments work under the local
government. In this case the bodies and departments functioning have their own duty and
functions to perform. In case of Mr Ian the agencies and groups involved in the heath care
have a different approach towards the condition however the community support group
have a rather lenient approach towards his conditions. This leads to disagreement among
the individuals and thus affects the ambience (Miller and Wilkes 2015).
However, there is a positive impact of different teams working together because
collaboration among different teams is a source of knowledge and also increases the
efficiency of the group. The negative effects include lack of cooperation among the
members because of difference in background and area of expertise. This causes
distortion of information and may affect the cause. It has been observed in case of Mr Ian
that there has been negligence in maintaining the heath records because of issues among
the concerned individuals. However, the government of the United Kingdom has
presented certain laws and legislations which state certain guidelines on how the groups
should act so that there is no compromise in care and support of the concerned individual
(Argent 2017).
In order to avoid any kind of issues there needs to be a clear structure where the duties
and functions are distributed. In case of Mr. Ian the groups and departments needs to
present a discussed idea so that there is no further compromise in his health care and
support. Lack of effort and efficiency is another factor that affects the situation because
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people collaborating from various backgrounds have a different approach towards the
problem which contributes to disruption in the process (Chapman et al .,2014).
Section C
3.1 Evaluate possible outcomes of partnership working for users of services, professionals and
organizations
For any kind of partnership there are a series of possible outcomes depending on the cooperation and
quality of the partnership. There are two kinds of outcomes that can be possible: Positive and
negative.
Outcome of partnership working for Service users: Compared to others service users are more
open and free in terms of work setting and this kind of environment provides a suitable environment
for collaborative work. Presence of better mediums of communication and respect among the teams
will lead to positive output. But it has been observed in case of Mr. Ian that there was a serious impact
on the health because of lack of communication and disorientation among the team ( Crawford et al .,
2018).
Outcome of partnership working for Professionals: In case of professionals it is easier to achieve
a successful outcome because in the executive level responsibilities are divided among the masses so
there is equal distribution of the work and hence the cooperative spirit remains intact. However, there
could be situations where lack of communication among the members and can affect the work. In case
of Mr. Ian there was a huge communication gap among the professionals which lead to negligence
and eventually affected Mr. Ian’s health.
Outcome of partnership working for Organization: An organization provides a compiled idea or
strategy on how the work needs to be done. As all the concerned organizations provide a common
idea it is easier for the team to operate. However, there has been an instance where there was a
conflict in the ideas and policies of the concerned companies. This kind of issues is quite frequent and
eventually affects the efficiency of the work. In case of Mr. Ian there was a conflict of ideas and
strategies among the groups and organization which caused delay in the process. For partnership in
organizations it is necessary for the members of the organization Keers and van Fenema 2018).
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3.2 Analyze the potential barriers to partnership working in health and social care services
In case of health and social care there needs to be a compatible work environment for the workers
because in case of any kind of issue there can be serious effect on the concerned patient. However,
there are certain limitations that are present in this field:
The most important aspect of working together is a transparent medium of communication among the
members and it has been observed in many cases that there has been a lack of communication among
the groups. There were situations where all the concerned workers were unaware of certain facts and
were not communicated which resulted in conflicts. While the management was dealing with Mr. Ian
there was a situation where a specific group responsible for handling his data were unaware that there
were certain complications in his health which needed to be addressed by the doctor but was not
present in the data logs which resulted in delay and there was a serious effect on his health. Another
potential barrier that may occur while collaborating is that there may be conflicts of ego among the
executives and employees. Misbehavior with the subordinates is quite common in this area and this
causes conflict in the work force (McMaster et al .,2016)
For any group working in partnership there needs to be a firm structure on how the job is to be done
which includes the timeline, the process structure and the financial cost. Compromises in financial
assets can affect the work setting. It has been observed that there were situations where there was lack
of funds for paperwork and medical resources, this kind of problems can lead to severe problems on
an individual’s physical and moral health.
A partnership work includes collaboration of various departments from different backgrounds so there
is a huge possibility that the concerned workers are not well trained for the task. Division of task is
necessary and it has been observed that it was necessary to put all the workers on the same page.
Training process of the workers is necessary in order to achieve maximum efficiency (Balloch and
Taylor 2001).
3.3 Devise strategies to improve outcomes for partnership working in health and social care
services
For a health and social care sector working in partnership can be very useful and efficient. There are
certain factors which affects the process. Working in partnership is efficient in order to present A
better implementation of the training process is necessary so that all the workers are able to function
properly. Health and social care sector has implemented various advanced technologies for data
collection and there needs to be proper training process for the employees. It has been observed that in
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many cases there was a serious issue where the employees were unable to function because of lack of
knowledge. These kind of issues affects the efficiency of the system (Hudson 2002).
A better medium of communication is necessary among the employees in order to avoid issues
which can affect the work setting. It is necessary for the employees and workers to adopt a transparent
medium of communication so that there is no disruption in the efficiency of the work
In a partnership it is necessary to introduce regular checkups and monitoring process so that the
quality of work can be checked.
Another process by which, the collaborative working environment in the health and care sector is
providing assistance to the concerned workers who are unable to perform a particular function.
Helpful assistance by the concerned management can help increase the efficiency of the work force In
an collaborative organization it is necessary for the management and the concerned authorities to
provide improved assistance (Rummery and Coleman, 2003).
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Conclusion: For a better and efficient work process in the health and safety sector working in
partnership has been effective. Collaborative working structure in this field can provide assistance.
However, there are many issues that may arise while working in partnership. Issues like lack of
communication and training causes problems in the work setting. In case of Mr. Ian these factors have
affected the process and hence caused severe issues in his health conditions. All of the data and
statistics used in this report have been taken from highly reliable sources. However, any suggestions
aimed at increasing the credibility of this study is highly appreciated.
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