Health Management Communication and Collaboration Report

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HEALTH MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION AND
COLLABORATION
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main body........................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
Reference list.................................................................................................................................13
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Introduction
The study will focus on the importance of collaboration and communication in the health care so
that all activities can be completed in an efficient manner. Multi-agency working and its benefits
will be explained in this paper. The support will be provided to the adults, who have mental
health issue and severe learning difficulties. Importance of good team member and required
qualities of a team member will be explained. After that, effective communication process in the
healthcare will be discussed along with examples. In the end, reflection on the performance of
social care practitioner will be included.
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Main body
Question 1: Show your understanding of how multi-agency working can support the well-
being of adults with learning difficulties and mental health. Suggest how this might benefit
staff.
As per the viewpoint of Solomon (2019), multi-agency working is the care process, where the
service users have multiple needs. In this context, support providers should provide effective
support to them so that they can recover as early as possible. The main purpose of following this
kind of working process is to help the users to lead a healthy life. On the other hand, Jasper et al.
(2016) commented that multi-agency working is not only the care process for the users but also
the needs of the family members of the users are monitored. As the care providers provide
attention to the requirement of the users, they are able to recover quickly. In this care process, a
group of care providers works together and they share information with each other. Thus, by
following multi-agency working process, care workers are able to enhance their knowledge in
this field.
For example, in a health care setting BILD (British Institute of Learning Disabilities), the user
with multiple needs such as learning difficulties and mental health issue is able to get the
attention of multiple workers (bild.org.uk, 2019). It not only helps the care users to recover
quickly, but also support from multiple workers satisfies them.
Multi agency working is the beneficial for staff in time of supporting the adults with SLD and
MH (Sever Learning Difficulties and mental Health). It is found that working relationship
should be built in time of following this working process (Walker, 2018). For example, if support
is provided to the adults with SLD and MH, care provides need to maintain the sequence of the
care. If they have anxiety, it is necessary to reduce their anxiety first and after that, their learning
difficulties can be cured. Without appropriate planning, proper treatment cannot be provided.
Hence, in the multi-agency working process, good relationship is built between the care
providers of various sectors. In return, by sharing information, knowledge of care providers is
increased and it helps them to provide proper support to the adults. According to the policy of
supportive team, well-being of staff can be maintained and it provides good experience to the
patients (Smith and Parker, 2015). Moreover, another benefit is the joint problem solving
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capability. In time of supporting to the adults with SLD and MH, the multi-agency working team
can handle difficult issues and as a result, problems are solved quickly. Thus, multi-agency
working assists the adults with SLD and MH to receive quick support.
The multi-agency working helps to reduce the discrimination related issue in the workplace. In
the health care, when team members work together, they try to provide equal priority to the
opinion of team members. It helps to build good relationship with teammates and it helps to
maintain the well-being of the staff (wokingham.gov.uk, 2019). As per the concept of value
fulfilment theory of well-being, all team members should respect to each other and provide
attention on their words. This concept helps to develop the mental satisfaction of the workers. On
the other hand, as commented by Holmes (2017), in time of working in a multi-agency team,
senior and junior both members are there. The senior members can help the junior members by
sharing information related to maintain safety. In time of supporting users, they should wear
hospital dress and gloves for maintaining safety. This process helps to maintain the well-being of
the staff.
As commented by Kaakinen et al. (2018), in time of providing support to the patients, staff
should know their issue in an appropriate manner. In the healthcare sector, patients have multiple
difficulties and they need to receive support from various specialists. Hence, without effective
communication between the staffs, a patient cannot be able to experience better service.
Therefore, in order to maintain wellbeing of staff and patient, effective communication policy
should be followed. For example, in time of supporting the adult with SLD and MH of BILD,
care providers should communicate with general physician (GP) for basic check-up, psychologist
for mental health issue and learning disabilities and therapist who helps to reduce learning
disability (bild.org.uk, 2019). If care provider does not communicate with these experts, patient
will not able to able to get proper treatment. It can affect the wellbeing of staff as well as
patients. Without proper communication, staffs feel isolated in the healthcare sector and it can
decrease their performance level.
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Question 2: Explore and discuss why it is important to be an effective team member when
supporting adults with severe learning difficulties and mental health in working with
service users. What is the importance here in working in collaboration with others?
In the opinion of House and Havens (2017), collaboration is the process of working where
people work together for a common purpose. In this case, if an individual faces difficulties
related to the work another member helps to solve it properly. Moreover, in this process of
working the team members can share their opinions in order to find out the most effective one.
On the other hand, Goodman and Clemow (2010) stated that collaboration is the effective
process in order to complete the task within the deadline. In case of health and social care,
collaboration in time of supporting the users helps them to recover quickly. It is found that
support workers do not have knowledge in all aspects. In this scenario, collaborative work helps
the adults with SLD and MH to get quality support from the care home. For example, if adults
have mental issue, psychologist should help them to recover from this state and support
providers focus on the learning difficulties. Thus, collaborative work provides fruitful result to
the users.
Various qualities such as teamwork, communicational skill, active listener, problem-solving
skill and reliability are required in order to work as an effective team member (Ohland et al.,
2017). A team member should be the active listener so that instruction of team leaders can be
followed thoroughly. Moreover, this skill helps the team member to identify the patients’
problem minutely for providing better treatment. On the other hand, communication skill is
required in time of collaboration. As in collaboration, a team works for a specific purpose, they
should communicate with the each other for performing each step accurately (nursingtimes.ne,
2018). For example, in case of a patient with learning disability, care providers should consult
with psychologist first and after that treatment should be stated. Hence, if they do not
communicate with each other, the aim related to recovery of patient cannot be achieved.
Reliability and responsibility is another criterion that is required in a good team member. If the
care provider is not responsible to his/her work, treatment related plan would not be completed
within time and it can harm the safety of the users (Hall and Ritchie, 2013). In addition to this,
effective suggestion should be provided to the team leader so that proper decision can be taken
related to the treatment of the patient.
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In time of providing support to the adults with SLD and MH, care providers should make the
plan related to their services. They need to set the time by which patient will be cured. As multi-
working agency handles multiple needs of a patient, they should jot down the history of the
patient. In this context, care workers should maintain confidentiality about the case history of the
patients as it is the part of working policy (rcn.org.uk, 2019). According to the plan, care
providers should consult with the psychologist, as mental health issue is responsible for learning
disabilities. This strategy helps the patient to receive better treatment. In time of counselling the
patients, it is necessary to respect them. Another care value is to provide attention to the patients
so that they feel free in the care home. Thus, good relationship can be built between the care
providers and patients and it helps to recover them quickly. Many a times, the care providers are
not able to find out the way of treating the adults with MH and SLD. Hence, care provider can
discuss with team and find out effective solution.
The nature of working in a team can be explained with the help of Tuckman’s team
development model. This model is comprised of five stages such as forming, storming, norming,
performing and adjourning (Natvig and Stark, 2016). In the forming stage, project goal,
individual roles, skills and delaine are examined. In the storming stage, rationally the project is
scrutinised and here various opinions of team members are gathered. People start to appreciate
the strengths of the members and members start their work in norming stage. In the performing
stage, the wok is completely started and in adjourning stage, analysis of entire work is
conducted. For example, in time supporting adults with MH and SLD, first, the issues are
identified and deadlines should be set. After that, strengths of care workers are found out and
various opinions related to treatment process are discussed. Thus, with the help of team
members, effective care plan is made and accordingly support is provided. Thus, teamwork helps
the patient to recover quickly.
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Question 3: Reflect on the role of the health and social care practitioner and their
responsibility in ensuring that effective communication takes place when working with
adults with severe learning difficulties and mental health.
As per the viewpoint of Foronda et al. (2016), effective communication is important within the
team in order to convey decision, which is taken for the patient, among the team members.
Moreover, if the care providers communicate with the patients with respect, they are able to
express their issue. It helps the patient to recover quickly. In this context, effective
communication between care providers and patient can be build by following few steps such as
creating self-awareness, involving them in small activities, allowing them to face challenges and
many others. If care providers are able to earn trust of the support users, they can recover
quickly. Hence, person centre care plan is the can be applied. In this process, specific care
provider is always available for the specific user and user can express their difficulties at any
time (Ekman et al., 2015).
In time of communicating with service user such as adults with MH and SLD, I have tried to
identify the specific mental health related issue. Many a times, I have found that patient is
suffering from dementia and he/she cannot remember anything. In this context, I write my
instruction in a paper and stick it in front of him/her. This non-verbal communication process
helps me to communicate with the user with MH and SDL. On the other hand, many times
service users are not able to read due to their physical disability such as blindness. Hence,
another language such as Braille can be followed in order to communicate with the users.
Moreover, the support users who have mental health issue should be treated politely so that they
feel safe in the healthcare (sps.nhs.uk, 2017).
Verbal and non-verbal communication process can be followed in order to communicate with
the support users or with their family. In the verbal communication, various types are there such
as facial expression, voice fluctuation, hand gesture and eye contact (Lemonnier, 2016). For
example, in time of supporting the adults with SDL and MH, it is necessary to identify the
mental health related issue such as anxiety or psychiatric disorder. In time of working in BILD, I
have noticed that people who have learning disability, they also have learning disability related
issue. If they are deaf, I use sign language in order to communicate with them. Moreover, in
time of making them understand the importance of the instruction, I use facial expression and
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hand gesture. For example, if I try to make the patient understand that his/her activity is correct,
I communicate with a smiling face or show a thumb up. Sometime I also clap by seeing their
activity. I have noticed that this communication process helps to communicate with adults, who
have SLD.
In time of communicating with the family of the patient, I try to arrange meeting on a specific
time. However, as commented by Natvig and Stark (2016), the family members of patient do not
provide proper information and it leads the treatment in a wrong way. In order to avoid this, I
prepare a set of question related to the problem of the patient and ask them accordingly. On the
other hand, in the non-verbal communication, the effective process is the writing process. The
patients, who are able to read, can interact with this process of communication. For example, if
the care user is suffering from dementia, he/she cannot remember anything. In order to remove
this kind of disability, writing is the appropriate process.
In order to communicate with patients or team members, Argyle communication cycle can be
followed. This cycle is comprised of six steps such as ideas occurrence, message encoded,
message coded, sending the message, receiving, decoding and understanding the idea
(Lamichhane, 2016). For example, in time of communicating with team members, one member
generates the idea related to the treatment process and encodes it. After that, this process is
revealed to the other team members in a code language so that confidentiality of the treatment
strategy can be maintained. Thus, effective communication between the team members is
observed. On the other hand, advocacy and capacity should be maintained during
communication. It highlights the Mental Capacity Act 2005. As per this act, the users with MH
and SLD are not independent in time of decision-making (scie.org.uk, 2019). Hence, as a service
provider of BILD, I have communicated with family members of users before taking any
decision related to their treatment.
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Question 4: Suggest ways that demonstrate how good practice may be transferred to others
when working to support adults with severe learning difficulties and mental health.
The good practice can transfer to others by the practitioner and it helps the healthcare venture to
earn the reputation from the market. As mentioned by Hall and Ritchie (2013), good practice
highlights various aspects such as following legislation, maintaining working values, treating
equally all employees, proper attention and concerning to the safety of users. If one care
provider follows above-mentioned aspects during providing care, it motivates other workers to
follow it. In time of supporting adults with SLD and MH, care providers should have patience
and they behave politely. Moreover, they should be treated with respect and it ensures the good
practice in the healthcare. I, care provider of BILD, have followed above-mentioned aspects and
shared the information with others. This motivates other workers to work appropriately.
Moreover, I have followed Equality Act 2010 and Care Act 2014 in order to practice the work
legally (england.nhs.uk, 2019). This habit helps me to earn customers’ satisfaction from the
users.
Good practice includes maintaining security of the users, providing attention to the users and
many others (Kaakinen et al., 2018). For example, as a care provider of BILD, I have various
works such as providing support to numerous people. Hence, it is not possible to me to present at
the floor all time. As patients are suffering from mental health, CCTV is installed in the room.
Hence, I have tried to monitor the CCTV camera, when I am not at the floor. This process helps
to ensure the security and safety of the patients with MH and SDL. Moreover, whistle blowing
process can be followed in order to indicate any kind of hazard.
Good practice in the healthcare can be explained with the theory of positive role model. The
main model is related to the confidence. In time of partitioning in the healthcare, I have tried to
treat the patient with confidence so that they can have belief on me. Communication with
everyone is another positive role (Ekman et al., 2015). Healthcare provider should communicate
with team members in order to develop knowledge in this filed. For example, at the previous
stage, I did not know how to handle the SLD and MH patient. I have learnt from my seniors and
it developed my skill properly. Thus, good practice not only develops the skills of the care
providers but also increase the satisfaction level of the users. Thus, healthcare workers are able
to increase the reputation of the institutions.
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On the other hand, Holmes (2017) commented that poor practice can reduce the reputation of the
venture in the market. If the workers are not responsible to their work, it can affect their
performance and patients are the sufferer for it. The nurses of Winterbourne View Care were the
example of poor practice. It was found that two nurses were jailed as they abused the patients
with learning disability. They did not provide attention to the users and as a result, they were
died. It was evident that they were violated Mental Health Act 1983. Due to these activities of
nurses, this care home was closed (communitycare.co.uk, 2012). Therefore, it is clear that good
practice of practitioners helps the venture to enhance their position in the market. Moreover, it
assists the workers to develop their working skills and it aids to satisfy the customers. Good
practice motivates the other workers to work in an appropriate manner. Workers should update
their knowledge in the field so that they can provide effective support to the users. In case of
adults with SLD and MH, workers should have patience for treating them.
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Conclusion
In order to draw the end line of study, it can be deduced that effective communication is required
between the team members and the users for providing best treatment. The adults with SLD and
MH should communicate with various ways such as using facial expression, hand gesture or
written process. Tuckman’s model of team development is analysed on order to understand the
nature of the team. Importance of good practice and how it can be transferred to others is also
discussed. In the end, it is recommended to the care providers to follow legislation related to care
for maintaining its quality.
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