Partnership Working In Health And Social Care: A Case Study

Understand Partnership Philosophies and Relationships in Health and Social Care Services

Describe about the Case Study for Partnership Working in Health and Social Care Sector.

The said assignment discusses the working of the health and social care organisations and agencies in relation to their philosophies and their relationships with the patients and service users. The said assignment also talks about different limitations and challenges faced by these organisations and agencies in their routine working. The primary aim of the said assignment is to discuss the importance of health and social care organisations and agencies operative in United Kingdom that work in partnership to serve and promote the health sector and help the disabled in United Kingdom. The said assignment is divided into three sections for better understanding of the entire subject matter dividing the same into important parts which highlight the primary purpose of the said topic which is working in partnership in the health and social care.

It is of immense importance to work in partnership in the sphere of health care and social care. Partnership brings out the best implementation of the interests of the social and health care. Partnership plays a key role in the most effective functioning of the sectors of health care. The social care sector also functions best when it works in the sphere of partnership. But, partnership working the sphere of social care and health care is not an easy process. The partnership working involves several philosophies in it (Omachonu and Einspruch 2010). Partnership working philosophies usually refers to the frame-work of procedures and rules that aids in the better management and maintenance of techniques of partnership between different authorities of social care and health care. There are many theories that operate in the corporations of health and social care in England. The philosophies that are used in England used are as follows:-

Philosophy of Independence –The independence philosophy generally means the capability of health care organizations to take major decisions for any other person during the time of emergency. Several health care and social care agencies found it difficult to respond to calls during the emergency hours of the service users. The interest or objective of the service users are served best in the situations where the said theory brings the features of management and maintenance of the social care organizations (Andrew and Entwistle 2010).

Empowerment Philosophy – the treatment and betterment of the service users or the disabled are regarded as the primary objective and function of the agencies of the social care and health care. In numerous cases, it is reported that the disabled persons found themselves in problem to live in the society even after treatment. This happens due to the problem of absence of self-confidence. Hence, the said philosophy helps the service users in resolving their problems by themselves, through teaching. Partnership working makes this possible (Care Quality Commission 2012). 

Understand How to Promote Positive Partnership Working with Users of Service, Professionals, and Organisations in Health and Social Care Services

Philosophy of Respect – In any sphere of the universe, the respect theory is regarded as the basic theory of joint working or partnership working in the field of health care and social care. The respect theory aids in protection of the disabled persons by not disclosing any private issue of health, that are kept in the files of the agencies of the health care. (Haubenhofer et al. 2010).

Philosophy of autonomy – The respect philosophy discussed above, forms the basis of the autonomy philosophy. The capability of any person to decide the personal interest and personal betterment from any environmental changes is known as autonomy in person. Therefore, the autonomy philosophy is applied in the working of the healthy and social care in order to make available the best environment of treatment to the disabled (Great Britain Department of Health 2012).

Power Sharing Philosophy – in England, the primary tool of partnership working in social care is to scatter the obligations and duties in between the several corporations of social care and health care. The best working of sector occurs through the scattering of the duties of the corporations. Hence, the theory of sharing of power comes into the daily working of the health care corporations when they scatter their duties and tends to make promotion of guidance to their service users. The use of the said theory helps in resolving the disputes among the several corporations of health and social care. The said disputes can be resolved by the application of the philosophy of the power sharing economy.

Philosophy of informed choices – The informed choices theory is a theory that provides the good effects of working in partnerships by the authorities of social care in England. The service-users can be able to select the best corporation of the health care in accordance with the options of choice to them. Therefore, this philosophy is where all health and social care sector advertises their services collectively to inform the service users about the same (Haubenhofer et al. 2010).

The sole process in which the partnership working serves best in social care and health care, is the application of the above-discussed theories in the daily working of its corporations. The attachment between the social care and health care helps in its best working. It is of primary value that health attachment between the corporations of health care and social care promotes healthy working of the corporations. Healthy attachment between the corporations helps in attaining the common goals and objectives of the corporations (Marmo et al. 2012). For example, if a service is unavailable in one organisation, a strong relationship will help the staff of the said organisation to seek help from the organisation, which has the said service available. This in return will be in best interest of the service users especially during the time of emergency. Having strong relationship within and outside health and social care organisations and agencies can be beneficial to service users, professional and the whole health sector in United Kingdom as a whole. The strong attachment with the other corporations of health and social care involves the best communication their goals and objectives among their employees and staffs. The healthy attachment between health and social care corporations and individuals aids in the achievement of better facilities of social care and health care. Hence, increasing the partnership between foreign health care corporations of health and social care will help the betterment of the corporations operating in England (Oliver, Sapey and Thomas 2012).

Partnership working in any sphere of the society must be free from disputes and conflicts both internally and externally. The models that are stated in the partnership working of any sector refers to the duties and obligations of the involved persons or organizations. There is partnership working model defined in any sphere as is in the case of social care and health care. The following models helps to understand the positivity in the partnership working of the health and social care corporations:

Practical Model – the basic objective of the practical model in partnership working in the sphere of social care and health care is the promotion of the facilities of the health care and social care towards the local people. The said model helps in the growth of the infrastructure of the local health care and services. There must be agreements between the local health care corporations in order to enhance the infrastructure of health care in any region. The said contracts are of immense importance as they aim in the improvement of the local health care facilities and they involve the state and federal authorities. The federal authorities through these contracts serve in the linkage of local health and social care for the promotion of the social care. The sole objective of the said contracts in health care service is to make prior decision on the goals and funds of the local health care corporations. (Parton and Berridge 2011).

Theoretical Model – the theoretical model works in accordance with the following models:-

Coordinated Model – the coordinated model states that the working of health and social care should be based on the autonomy in person. Personal autonomy shall prevail in the working of the sectors for better working. The said model works promotes collaborative working in order to promote the facilities of health care and comes into play when governmental corporations involves themselves in entering into partnership relations with private corporations. Individual autonomy is the basis of this model. The said model is hard to operate in the corporations having sole frame-work, but in the governmental framework it is easy for the asid model to operate (Petch, Cook and Miller 2013).

Unified Model – The Unified Model operates in spheres where a sole trust is established in a health care corporation, with a sole finance frame-work and having sole goals, obligations, and methods of social and health care. There are many advantages of the said model. They are cost reduction, as there is only a sole system involved. The system also aids in lowering the investments required in other models.  

There are several enacted legislations that operates in the sphere of partnership working in the area of health and social care. The following legislations work for the betterment of the infrastructure of social and health care in England. The following legislations work in engaging partnership among the various corporations of health and social care. The enacted laws are as follows:   

The Health and Social Care Act – The act was enacted in the year of 2012 with the objective of enhancing the public health and infrastructure of health care and social care in England.

The Care Standard Act – The act was enacted in the year 2000 with an objective of providing frame-work to frame the laws regarding the maintenance, working and code of conduct of every social and health care corporations in England.

The Mental Capacity Act – The said Act was enacted by the Parliament of England in the year 2005 that has the sole objective of making compulsory laws for working in collaboration with the agencies of health and social care, in dealing the mentally retarded persons in England (Richardson2010).

The Children Act – The Children Act was enacted in the year 2004 with an objective to help the governmental authorities of England, to work in collaboration with the health care corporations for the development of infrastructure of the children care in England (Wilson and Game 2011).

The Care Quality Commission Regulation – The said regulations emerged in the year 2009 with the objective of promoting better services that are considered risk free to all the persons who uses the services of the health care corporations (Roland, Guthrie and Thomé 2012).

The above-mentioned legislations that work in the fulfilment of the health and social care provisions in England, has their own advantages and suffers from their own disadvantages. Therefore, applying the legislations, which get bad outcomes give rise to many difference in the health and social care sector. Some of the differences are summed as follows:-

 Roles and functions – in England there is an absence of established framework of duties and obligations of the corporations of the said sector. The absence of the proper framework is the primary factor for the rise of conflicts and differences in the sector of partnership working .

Motives and objectives of the organization – the several agencies of health and social care in England work in partnership but they often fail to understand the basic objective of working in partnership. Hence, the sole motive of partnership is not served. This is a failure of partnership working. This is also a disadvantage of partnership working. 

Communication – the major disputes of the universe emerges due to the absence of proper communication in like circumstances. There are high chances of conflicts of interests in case of working in partnership in health care.  The effective system of communication helps in the smooth and flexible working of the health care corporations (Wilson, Seymour and Perkins 2010).

Cultural Differences – when the corporations of health and social care works in partnership, the individuals related with the sector works in collaboration. This theory has its own advantages and disadvantages. This can often create cultural differences among the employees of the said sector (Rosen, Goodwin and Dixon 2010).

Every service sector has an outcome when it works collectively in partnership with other organisations for a long period. In the same way, the outcome of the partnership working of health and social care organisations and agencies can be studies in three different stages. The said stages are as follows:-

Service Users outcome – the working in partnership by the health care corporations have their own advantages towards the persons using the services of the corporations. Any user of services refers to the persons who are either disabled or suffers from any private disease. These persons are willing to seek treatment from the corporations of health care. The partnership working of the several health care corporations in England forms the largest groups of trusts, that in turn helps the service users based on payment or because of charity. Working in partnership in the social care process helps the corporations to serve employment to several staff and employ individuals who serve in compliance, to determine the techniques involved in the application of the related legislations in England. The legislations relating to partnership working are discussed above. The partnership working of the health and social care ensures that the services that are not available in one corporation, is available to the service seekers from any other organisation. This helps in the enhancement of the helath care services as every required service is available to the persons seeking the service from the health care service providers in England (Shaw, Rosen and Rumbold 2011). 

Outcome of professionals – working in partnership is of a great advantage to the professionals who are indulged in working in corporations of health and social care. This assures that the there is never lack of emergency professionals like nurses and doctors at any corporations of health care at emergencies. This ensures that there is never the complains of lack of professional persons at any outlet of health and social care. Without working in partnership, this is never possible in any case (Sines, Saunders and Forbes-Burford 2013).

Organisational Outcomes – the working in partnership has also its outcome in the case of organizations. The organizations generally suffer from lack of prior determined duties and goals of its members. The partnership working ensures that the goals of the health care agencies are not only known to the said agency but also to the other agencies who are in partnership with the said agency. This helps in the attainment of the goals and objectives of the corporations of health care and social care (Steele and Cylus 2012).

Therefore, the primary objective of partnership working is the attainment of the goals of the agencies of the health care. But in doing so the corporations suffer from several restrictions. The restrictions or barriers are as follows :-

The most evident barrier in the partnership working of health and social care sphere is the absence of a proper frame-work, where the duties, obligations, goals and objectives areb properly defined. There is absence of management and proper maintenance of work ethics in the daily working of the health care organizations. This leads in the loss of work efficacy. The essence of time is the next restriction to the partnership working. The idea of partnership is in lack in the beginning years of partnership. When the concept of the term partnership came into play, the persons engaged in partnership failed to understand their duties and initial responsibilities. The time taken in adjusting to the new concepts of partnership, was a major difficulty or barrier in the partnership working of health care (West 2012). The most important barrier of partnership working is the creation of disputes among the persons of partnership, as they are from different cultures. Internal disputes and conflicts tend to slow down the pace of work of any organization. The partnership disputes often arises from the differential cultures of the partnership professionals. Differential professional cultures refer to the difference in working principles in the partnership environment. The persons engaged in managing the health and social care work in one organization may find it difficult to deal with the managing actions in other organizations. This emphasizes that the goals of one organization varies from the other and the persons who shift themselves from one organization to another may found it difficult to understand the goals of the other organization. Partnership in health and social care involves the work of one organization done by any other organization. This theory ascertain that one act valid in one organization, may be invalid in some other organization. The professionals involved in health and social often lacks the benefits of proper training. Without proper training, it is impossible for the professionals to work in the corporations of health and social care. The said training programmes must be conducted by the agencies of the government for the better understanding of the terms of health care (Stuckler and Nestle 2012).

Several techniques can be attached to the system of social care and health care. For example, the system of said proper training is a technique of improving health care.  The certain suggestions for the improvement of health systems are as follows:-

The primary action needed in the improvement of health and social care is the scattering of the duties and obligations of the corporations involved in that sector. The sole objective of any agency of health and social care must involve in the resolution of the problems of their service users. The essential information for one corporation may not be essential for another corporation. So, it is essential to identify the information properly. The training of the professionals must be organized in a regular manner. Regular training will ensure the proper systematic working of the professionals and in turn it will help the corporations of the health and social care in attaining their objectives. The training will also result in the efficient and effective working of the health and social care agencies. The social care and the health care agencies must work in collaboration in order to attain any common intention which would aid in the right working of the organizations (Wallerstein and Duran 2010).

Conclusion

Partnership working in health and social care sector can lead to multiple benefits, which mostly guarantee positive outcomes and promote the best interest of service users. However, the outcome of this effort of partnership working in health and social sector requires pre-defined rules and philosophy, which help in providing best facilities of health care in the United Kingdom. However, this is only possible if the potential differences and barriers of working in partnership in health care sector can be eliminated by joint efforts.

Reference List

Andrews, R. and Entwistle, T., 2010. Does cross-sectoral partnership deliver? An empirical exploration of public service effectiveness, efficiency, and equity. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, p.mup045.

Care Quality Commission, 2012. The state of health care and adult social care in England in 2011/12 (Vol. 763). The Stationery Office.

Great Britain. Department of Health, 2012. Health and Social Care Act 2012: Chapter 7, Explanatory Notes. The Stationery Office.

Haubenhofer, D. K., Elings, M., Hassink, J., and Hine, R. E. (2010). The development of green care in Western European countries. EXPLORE: the Journal of Science and Healing, 6(2), 106-111.

Haubenhofer, D.K., Elings, M., Hassink, J. and Hine, R.E., 2010. The development of green care in Western European countries. EXPLORE: the Journal of Science and Healing, 6(2), pp.106-111.

Marmot, M., Allen, J., Bell, R., Bloomer, E. and Goldblatt, P., 2012. WHO European review of social determinants of health and the health divide. The Lancet, 380(9846), pp.1011-1029.

Oliver, M., Sapey, B. and Thomas, P., 2012. Social work with disabled people. Palgrave Macmillan.

Omachonu, V.K. and Einspruch, N.G., 2010. Innovation in healthcare delivery systems: a conceptual framework. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 15(1), pp.1-20.

Parton, N. and Berridge, D., 2011. Child protection in England. Child protection systems: International trends and orientations, pp.60-88.

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.

Richardson, G., 2010. Mental capacity at the margin: the interface between two Acts. Medical law review, 18(1), pp.56-77.

Roland, M., Guthrie, B. and Thomé, D.C., 2012. Primary medical care in the United Kingdom. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine,25(Suppl 1), pp.S6-S11.

Rosen, R., Goodwin, N. and Dixon, J., 2010. Where next for integrated care organisations in the English NHS? (pp. 15-03). London: Nuffield Trust.

Shaw, S., Rosen, R. and Rumbold, B., 2011. What is integrated care. An overview of integrated care in the NHS. London: The Nuffield Trust.

Sines, D., Saunders, M. and Forbes-Burford, J. eds., 2013. Community health care nursing. John Wiley & Sons.

Steele, D. and Cylus, J., 2012. United Kingdom (Scotland): health system review. Health systems in transition, 14(9), pp.1-150.

Stuckler, D. and Nestle, M., 2012. Big food, food systems, and global health. PLoS Med, 9(6), p.e1001242.

Wallerstein, N. and Duran, B., 2010. Community-based participatory research contributions to intervention research: the intersection of science and practice to improve health equity. American journal of public health,100(S1), pp.S40-S46.

West, D., 2012. How mobile devices are transforming healthcare. Issues in technology innovation, 18(1), pp.1-11.

Wilson, D. and Game, C., 2011. Local government in the United Kingdom. Palgrave Macmillan.

Wilson, E., Seymour, J.E. and Perkins, P., 2010. Working with the Mental Capacity Act: findings from specialist palliative and neurological care settings. Palliative Medicine, 24(4), pp.396-402.