Evaluating Partnership Working in Health and Social Care: A Case Study

This case study examines the concept of partnership working within the health and social care sector, using the case of Mr. Ian to illustrate the complexities and challenges involved. It begins by outlining the core philosophies underpinning partnership working, such as empowerment, independence, and informed decision-making, and evaluates the partnership relationships at various levels: service user, professional, and organizational. The analysis reveals shortcomings in the partnership's effectiveness, attributed to factors like Mr. Ian's behavior and a lack of inter-organizational cooperation. Furthermore, the study reviews relevant legislation and organizational practices that support collaborative working, including the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the Care Standard Act 2000, and analyzes different models of partnership working, such as unified, coordination, and hybrid models, suggesting the hybrid model as potentially most effective for Mr. Ian's case. The report also assesses potential barriers to partnership working and proposes strategies for improvement. Desklib provides access to this and many other solved assignments for students.

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP
MR. IAN CASE STUDY

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INTRODUCTION
The health and social care industry is rapidly growing industry in the country and in recent
years, various organizations and institutions have chosen for partnership working for
facilitating the delivery of best and quality services to the people. A partnership is a mutual
and collaborative relationship between the two or more parties which is basically based on
equality, trust and mutual understanding between the parties for achieving a particular
common goal. Every partnership requires equally accountable and shared level of trust and
interdependency and involves some benefits and risks. In health and social care sector, the
working in partnership brings separate organizations together for to gain the benefit of
varied resources, expertise and power for enhancing and improving the services quality in
the sector (Nyström et al., 2018). This assignment project will provide information and
knowledge about the various aspects of working in partnership with health and social care
sector with considering the case study of Mr. Ian to gain a better understanding of the
subject.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Sharing and mutual respect is the main essence of working in a partnership which involves
the division of rights, accountability, roles, value and competence of the partners. For
working in partnership in health and social care sector, each partner is needed to share and
contribute something for making effective decisions (Glasby and Dickinson, 2014). The
presented case study of Mr. Ian will support the analysis and evaluation of the current
aspects and scenario of partnership working in the health and social care sector. This
assignment will help in understanding the three major philosophies of working in
partnership such as empowerment, independence and making informed choices and the
importance and evaluation of partnership relationship in health and social care sector. The
models of working in partnership and with the proper review of the current legislation and
organizational practices and policies will be analyzed in this assignment report. The possible
outcomes of working in partnership for the organizations, Professionals and service users
will also be assessed with the proper analysis of the potential barriers and strategies for the
partnership working in health and social care sector.
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SECTION A
1.1 THE PHILOSOPHIES OF WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP IN HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE
In the last few years, the working in partnership has been the central focus of several
organizations, institutions and government agencies in the health and social care sector.
There have been several philosophies are formed for facilitating the working in partnership
with the health and social care sector (Glasby, 2017). These philosophies and principles
serve as the basis for the creation of a partnership in the health and social care sector.
The major philosophies of the partnership working are power-sharing, trust, autonomy,
empowerment, respect, independence and making an informed choice. The three of the
most essential philosophies are discussed below.
 EMPOWERMENT: This philosophy lays emphasis on the concept of empowerment.
The organizations involved in the partnership need to be capable of empowering
each other through the adequate and effective coordination of the process and
activities for increasing the abilities of the partner organizations in achieving the
targeted goals and objectives (Glasby, 2017). In the case of Mr. Ian, there was the
absence of empowerment among the professionals and organizations and Mr. Ian
himself did not cooperate with their care providers.
 INDEPENDENCE: the philosophy of independence is originated for limiting the
interdependence of the organizations in the health and social care partnership. It
suggests that although partner organizations may depend on each other there must
be certain limitations to enable the organization to stand on its own for fulfilling its
respective responsibilities. For example, in order to care a drug addict person, the
Rehabilitation Centre and a psychologist are providing care to the person in
partnership but in the absence of psychologist, the rehabilitation services need to
continue its responsibilities and vice versa (Määttä et al., 2017).
The organizations serving Mr. Ian has become largely interdependent on each other
and could not perform their roles and responsibilities this causes neglected health
and condition of Mr. Ian and failure in the services.
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 MAKING INFORMED CHOICES: The organizations in a partnership must share the
relevant information and decisions with each other for benefitting themselves and
the customers as well. For example, the organizations responsible for supplying
medicines and drugs to the health care centre must be primarily informed about the
need and shortage of supplies by the health care centre to ensure sufficient
availability of pharmaceutical products to maintain the flow of services (Fotaki,
2011).
The reduced involvement of OT and CSW during Mr. Ian admitted to the hospital
due to urinary tract infection has caused problems to the doctor in completing the
risk assessment and other paperwork because of incomplete information. During the
significant changes in the case an issue regarding the responsible team was unclear
and causes confusion, pressure and frustration among the partnership.
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1.2 EVALUATION OF PARTNERSHIP RELATIONSHIP WITHIN HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE SERVICES
LEVELS OF PARTNERSHIP WORKING IN THE CASE OF MR. IAN
By evaluating the case study of Mr. Ian it is founded that the partnership relationship in the
health and social care industry is not been very effective or strong. This case consists of
levels of partnership which are not proved effective due to several reasons. On this regards,
the partnership relationship in case of Mr. Ian will be evaluated on the basis of three levels:
Service User Level: At this level, the partnership relationship among the service providers
and service taker is being evaluated. The relationship of service taker MR. Ian with the
several service-providing professionals and organizations such as staff of Local Authority
Long Term Team (LATT), Mental Health Review and Reablement (R&R), Risk Enablement
Panel (REP), occupational therapist, community support workers (CSW) and other
institutions and family is not been effectively developed due to the behavior of Mr. Ian. Due
to his alcohol consumption habits and aggressive nature the service providing team was
unable to provide quality services to him (Reeves et al., 2011).
Professional Level: this level involves the evaluation of the partnership relationship at the
professional level among the occupational therapist and other care individual service
providers (Glasby, J., 2017) of Mr. Ian. The doctors, therapist and the staff of the
organizations were unable to provide better services to Mr. Ian as they felt a much higher
risk of harm to others by him and they could not effectively share information and hence,
failed to provide services to Mr. Ian.
Organizational Level: this level involves the evaluation of the relationship between the
several organizations (Glasby, J., 2017). It is founded all of these organizations could not
effectively make the strategies and service requirements of Mr. Ian and neglected him by
transferring their responsibilities on each other in absence of cooperation and proper
collaboration among them.
WHITE PAPERS AND LEGISLATION THAT SUPPORTS COLLABORATIVE WORKING
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Several legislations and guidelines have been formulated by the government to support the
collaborative and partnership relationship in the health and social care sector. Our Health,
Our Care Our Say 2006, The Equality Act 2010, Putting People First, Disability Discrimination
Act and Care Standard Act 2000, Darzi Report and Mental Capacity Act 2005 etc. (Baldock et
al., 2011) are present to regulate the partnership relationship in health and social care
sector.
 Our Care Our Say 2006: in order to reform and expand the community health and
social care services to meet the needs and requirements of poorer and deprived
communities of the country, the government set out this white paper. This white
paper has majorly highlighted four key objectives:
1. Increased patients choice
2. Earlier intervention for better health prevention services
3. Increasing support for people with long-term needs of independently living
4. Handling inequalities and improving access to community services.
 Mental Capacity Act 2005: this Act is passed by the parliament of UK with the
purpose of providing the legal framework for making decisions and acting on the
part for the adults who are mentally unable to make their own decisions (Baldock et
al., 2011). For protecting the rights of mentally disabled persons.s
In the case of Mr. Ian, these legislations and guidelines could have supported the
establishment of a positive relationship of the partnership at all the levels. The
guidelines of white paper and mental capacity act could be implemented at the service-
user and professional level for improving the relationship for achieving health and social
care objectives.
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SECTION B
2.1 ANALYSIS OF THE MODELS OF PARTNERSHIP WORKING ACROSS THE
HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SECTOR
The 3 major models of partnership working across the health and social care sector are:
UNIFIED: the unified model of partnership working allows the various members of the
partnership to be amalgamated with the same management and structure and separate
expertise. The professionals such as social workers, occupational therapists, nursing and all
other professionals work in the collaboration from the same place. This model has several
benefits such as effective communication, better team relationship, a clear division of roles
and responsibilities and immediate information sharing etc. (S.D, 2016 )this model could be
effectively implemented in the case of Mr. Ian for enhancing the communication and
improving the better team partnership among the professionals level partnership.
COORDINATION: the coordination model of partnership working is pointed towards the
assessment of individual professionals from the different agencies or organization on their
own terms to set goals and focus the service delivery through the coordination of all the
services by the task group or multi-agency panel. The coordination between the health and
social care results in a multi-component approach to achieving better results. This model is
group dynamic and is entirely dependent upon effective communication (S.D, 2016). The
coordination model could support the better coordination among the organizational level
partnership in the case of Mr. Ian.
HYBRID: the hybrid model of partnership refers to the mix of public and private
organizations for challenging the polarity between these sectors. These organizations are
regarded as diminishing the boundaries among the public, private and third sectors of the
industry. The main objectives of the hybrid partnership are to address the social and
environmental needs of the health and social care sector. For example, an organization in a
partnership with county council for contributing in the cost of health and social care services
to provide support in health and social care (S.D, 2016). The Hybrid model could be used for
improving the partnership at the service user level where the monitoring and rehabilitation
services are required for Mr. Ian to reduce his alcohol addiction.
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The most effective model in the case of Mr. Ian could be the Hybrid model for providing
better health and social care opportunities to Mr. Ian. This model will help in assessing the
roles and responsibilities of the individuals who are giving care to Mr. Ian.
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2.2 REVIEW CURRENT LEGISLATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRACTICES
AND POLICIES FOR PARTNERSHIP WORKING IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
There are numerous laws, Acts and policies are formulated for regulating the health and
social care services in the country. This legislation and policies help in safeguarding public
interest and facilitates working in partnership with the health and social care sector of the
UK. Some of the legislation and policies are:
HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE ACT 2012
The Health and Social Care Act is the act of the parliament of the UK for providing an
extensive restructuring of the national health services (NHS) in UK (Ling et al., 2012). This
Act has made several provisions regarding the health care services in the country such as
provisions about the public health, regulation of the health and adult care services,
involvement of public in health and social care issues, cooperation between the
commissioners and local authorities of health care services and regulation of social and
health care workers etc.
CARE STANDARD ACT 2000
Care Standards Act 2000 provides administration of many care institutions such as
independent hospitals, nursing homes, residential care homes and children’s home etc. the
main aim behind this act is to change the law related to the inspection and rules of several
care institutions. This act is formulated for establishing a national care standards
commission for creating provisions for regulation and registration of care institutions.
EQUALITY ACT 2010
The primary purpose of the Equality Act 2010 is to protect discrimination in employment
and other sectors on the grounds of sexual orientation, age, religion & belief. This Act
encourages equal treatment in access to employment and private and public services in any
sector (Ling et al., 2012). This act also facilitates the disabled people by regulating the
employers and service providers to make reasonable adjustments at the workplaces.
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The laws and legislation are very important for delivering quality services to the public in the
partnership working in health and social care sector (Ling et al., 2012). The unclear
responsibilities and frustration among the teams and care providers in the case of Mr. Ian
have cause neglecting of health and unexpected death of Mr. Ian. During the time of the
case, the health and social care Act has regulated the health care institutions and
organizations in providing required services to Mr. Ian who was living independently and
addicted to alcohol. The legislation and policies may regulate and supervise the
organizations in assessing the clear accountability of the responsible organizations and
institutions for assuring continuous and quality services for Mr. Ian.
In the case of Mr. Ian the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Care Standard Act, 2000 could have
supported the partnership of institutions, organizations and health professionals. As Mr. Ian
was drunk most of the time and was not able to take his decisions and become mentally ill
the provisions of Mental Capacity Act 2005 could have supported him and the Care
Standard Act 2000 could have help in having clear accountability and responsibility of the
organizations in partnership for taking care of Mr. Ian.
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