Multi-Agency Collaboration and Integrated Care in the UK Health System

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Multiagency working in Health and
Social Care Practice

The essay talks about the aspect of multiagency working in Health and Social Care Practice and
thereby brings in the context the use of different policies, legislations and programs that are
important and are related with the concept of Multiagency working. Other than this the paper
also talks about my won practice and brings in examples from literature so that it is easy to
understand the concept and also it is easy to deliver the best result or the best outcome. The
paper is constructively presented and that points out all the relevant aspects that are related with
the concept of multi agency working.
Multi agency working is all about working across organizations to deliver services to people with
multiple needs. This is all about working in collaboration so that the best can be given to the
patients or the individuals in need and this also helps in catering to multiple needs (Woollard
2015). This is an approach where professionals and practitioners from different sectors and
professions work together to provide an integrated care to children, young people, families and
others (Woollard 2015). Multi agency working in case of healthcare and social care includes all
that can be nurses, midwives, healthcare professional, social workers and others and each of
them work together or in a collaborative way to give the best to the people in need and this is
important to provide a wide range of support and also to better the healthcare aspect and living of
the people (Woollard 2015). In this kind of approach social workers as well as healthcare staffs
can work in a combined way and provide health related aids or can also promote the wellbeing of
the people in different areas. Multi agency working is also often known as partnership working
as in this type of work people from different agencies work together and their aim to provide
integrated care. Defining Multi agency working might be difficult since all are not aware of this
term and even if some are aware all does not know about its functions and its implication or
impact on the social and health care sector of field (Woollard 2015). Multi agency working is a

type of working that brings in different individuals from health and social care filed and they
together work in participation to deliver good or positive output. This Multi agency working is
also related with the concept of integrated care since integrated care can only come when there
are multiple facilitates and there is coordinated care approach for the individual. This integrated
care takes care of the whole aspect such as physical health, mental health and all the vital factors
that are related or are associated with it. Integrated care is an effective approach to provide
special and holistic care to the patients and is effectively brought into practice through Multi
agency working (Knight et al. 2015). Talking about my experience I can tell that as we work with
social workers in providing emergency relief and fast aid in case of emergency as out healthcare
organization in which I work believe in Multi agency working, there is always an approach of
integrated care and that helps in promoting the overall health of the patients or the people in
distress. Multi agency working is indeed very important and this is found in many places other
than UK as the outcome of it is known by all and this helps in a wide way also that covers a lot
of people (Knight et al. 2015). Working with other professionals is important in Health and Social
care as this gives an ample of opportunities and scopes to both the healthcare professionals and
the social workers to treat the people and also to help them and also very significantly this
collaborative approach takes care of a number of health and social issues of the people.
There is indeed a relationship between policy, research and practice within health and social care
and that is to be discussed here. The healthcare policy of UK aims at patient safety, health and
safety policy, confidentiality policy, equality delivery policy, equality and diversity policy, code
of conducts policy and others (Knight et al. 2015). All these are the written and documented
policies as per NHS England and these are expected to be put in practice. At times it can be seen
that policies are not totally implemented into practice and that is not an expected one or a

desirable one. However at times it is seen that there are full implementation of these policies and
also there are full abidance of these policies (Powell and Mustafee 2017). The policies within
health and social care also includes basic ethics and principles that the workers need to follow
and for that the UK health Government has brought in “conducts of business” that has a set of
rules about how to deal with people in this area (Powell and Mustafee 2017). The relationship
between policy and practice is said to be direct one as practice is mainly based on the written
down or the documented policies and that is applicable in case of both health and social care
(Powell and Mustafee 2017). The social care policies of UK includes looking after the disabled,
improving community health, Health and Social Care Act 2012 is also there, Community Care
Act, aged health care, labor class care and others. In case of multi agency work all these policies
are implemented into practice and thus a multi agency connection is also formed since this brings
in one place all the health professionals, the health team, the social workers and others. research
within the health and social care filed is based on finding out ways that are best for the people
and that which meets the requirements and needs of the people so that they get maximum care
and also that their living condition is bettered (Powell and Mustafee 2017). For example the
minorities and the ethnic groups in UK and are not always given proper housing facility and also
are denied of primary healthcare services. In that context it is important and vital that researches
are done so as to bring in forefront the required or the additional policies and plans. In case of
Multi agency working the policies, the research and the practices become overlapping as all
these are combined together when it comes to social and health care (Powell and Mustafee 2017).
Working with other processionals is important in Health and Social Care practice and this is
mainly because of the fact that this opens up various avenues and various scopes of better
treatment from the end of the health workers and also the social workers and a planned and

definite support can be given to the people who are in need (Knight et al. 2015). Working with
other professionals is one of the practices that can be found in UK as there is the concept of
integrated care and this approach thereby brings in positive outcome and also brings in positive
result (Powell and Mustafee 2017). If analyzed it can be seen that there is a direct connection
between policy and research in social care and that is mainly because of the fact that various
researches about the needs of the people are done and also researches related to vulnerability of
people is also done and based on these researches the working polices are made that might
require support or help of healthcare team (Currie and Spyridonidis 2016). This thereby also relates
to multi agency working and makes the outcome an effective one and also helps in uplifting the
one who are needs and also helps in looking after the vulnerable sections in the society (Powell
and Mustafee 2017). Disability acre Act, Homelessness Act, Aged Care Act are all these in social
care filed and these policies are directly implanted with the help of professionals from other
sectors as well and the importance of it is finally reflected in its outcome when it can be seen that
the result leads to societal health development and growth.
Effectiveness of multi-disciplinary working and multi-agency collaboration within health and
social care practice is there and this can be seen in UK where there are combined efforts and
collective efforts to take care of the aged, to take care of complex diseases, to take care of
maternity health, to take care of the aged, to take care of the distressed, to take care of the
homeless, to take care of the vulnerable groups and others (Currie and Spyridonidis 2016). The
multi disciplinary work targets at various works from the social and healthcare field and that is
the most vital or the significant one (Currie and Spyridonidis 2016). The multi disciplinary working
style at a time involves a lot of work that can be dealing with complex ailments that can be
looking after the helpless people that can be taking care of minorities group, which can be taking

care of the underprivileged children, which can be conducting operations and others (Currie and
Spyridonidis 2016). Other than this there is multi agency collaboration aspect as well and this is all
about different agencies working together which can be mental health agency, child care agency,
social care agencies and many more. The combined approach of working will bring in effective
result and that will help all who are associated with the health and social care field as their
intention is also the same which is positive and effective outcome for the individuals.
Multiagency working among the professionals is shaped by policy and the policies here are as
per NHS England policy, Social Care policy and others (Currie and Spyridonidis 2016). The
policies are mainly based on holistic care approach, better health services approach, integrated
care approach, cooperative approach and others and for these policies there are appropriate
legislation and statues in UK (Currie and Spyridonidis 2016). The policy and legislation all talk in
favor of multidisciplinary work and multi agency work as this is the way to collaborative work
practice, this is the way to help the common men and also this is the way to social and health
care services (Currie and Spyridonidis 2016). The effectiveness of this kind of work approach is
multiple such as better health care, better lifestyle, better knowledge and idea, awareness about
wellbeing and health condition, better day to day health condition, reduction of drug abuse,
reduction of alcohol dependence, knowledge and education and many others. These effectiveness
surely indicates the fact that how the concept of multidisciplinary work and also the concept of
multi agency work is important and how these both can lead to some positive result or outcome.
Example of people of UK who belongs to the underprivileged class can be brought in here
(Knight et al. 2015). They do not get proper living space, nor basic diet and also no basic primary
health care facility. With the help of multi disciplinary work and with the help of multi agency
work there are combined and multiple efforts to take care of the various issues of this particular

group such as homelessness, poor health condition, safety and hygiene, primary healthcare and
many others. This multiple efforts thereby lead to help and rescue of this group of people and
that is an integrated care as well (Knight et al. 2015). This directly shows the effectiveness of the
multi-disciplinary working and multi-agency collaboration between health care and social work.
Health and social care goes hand in hand in a way as this is all about care and support of the
people and that does not distinct anyone ad its main aim is helping people and providing
seamless responses to the complex and multiple needs of people.

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