Policy Press
Six Reluctant partners: the experience of health and social care collaboration
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Abstract
The Government has made it one of its top priorities since coming to office to bring down the ‘Berlin Wall’ that can divide health and social services and create a system of integrated care that puts users at the centre of service provision. (DoH, 1998a, p 997)
The ‘Berlin Wall’ seen to divide health and social care services featured strongly in the policy debates of the late 1990s. Particularly in respect of community care services, but also in provision for children and their families, effective service interventions were seen to be frustrated by a lack of coordination between different professionals, agencies and/or departments. In the child protection context, successive official inquiries identified failures in communication or interagency/interprofessional collaboration as a major contributory factor (DHSS, 1974; London Borough of Bexley, 1982; London Borough of Brent, 1985; London Borough of Greenwich, 1987). Earlier chapters have set out some of the potential barriers to interprofessional and multiagency working, in particular the difficulties resulting from different, and possibly conflicting, disciplinary approaches and service paradigms. They have also highlighted problems arising from the diverse systems of regulation and accountability surrounding network participants. This chapter examines the impact of central policy initiatives designed to enhance collaboration between health and social services authorities and identifies further areas of organisational resistance to effective joint working in child protection. After providing a brief history of collaboration between the NHS and social care agencies, the chapter examines the implications for local provider networks of the 1997 Labour government’s modernisation agenda.
Abstract
The Government has made it one of its top priorities since coming to office to bring down the ‘Berlin Wall’ that can divide health and social services and create a system of integrated care that puts users at the centre of service provision. (DoH, 1998a, p 997)
The ‘Berlin Wall’ seen to divide health and social care services featured strongly in the policy debates of the late 1990s. Particularly in respect of community care services, but also in provision for children and their families, effective service interventions were seen to be frustrated by a lack of coordination between different professionals, agencies and/or departments. In the child protection context, successive official inquiries identified failures in communication or interagency/interprofessional collaboration as a major contributory factor (DHSS, 1974; London Borough of Bexley, 1982; London Borough of Brent, 1985; London Borough of Greenwich, 1987). Earlier chapters have set out some of the potential barriers to interprofessional and multiagency working, in particular the difficulties resulting from different, and possibly conflicting, disciplinary approaches and service paradigms. They have also highlighted problems arising from the diverse systems of regulation and accountability surrounding network participants. This chapter examines the impact of central policy initiatives designed to enhance collaboration between health and social services authorities and identifies further areas of organisational resistance to effective joint working in child protection. After providing a brief history of collaboration between the NHS and social care agencies, the chapter examines the implications for local provider networks of the 1997 Labour government’s modernisation agenda.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgements iv
- Introduction 1
- Models and metaphors: the theoretical framework 7
- Policy communities and provider networks in child protection 23
- Knowledge and networks 39
- Accountability, agencies and professions 51
- Power and politics in the NHS 65
- Reluctant partners: the experience of health and social care collaboration 77
- A system within a system: the role of the Area Child Protection Committee 93
- Agents of change? The role of the designated and named health professionals 109
- Sleeping partners: GPs and child protection 125
- Health visitors and child protection 139
- ‘Healthy’ networks? NHS professionals in the child protection front line 153
- Conclusion 169
- References 185
- Index 209
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgements iv
- Introduction 1
- Models and metaphors: the theoretical framework 7
- Policy communities and provider networks in child protection 23
- Knowledge and networks 39
- Accountability, agencies and professions 51
- Power and politics in the NHS 65
- Reluctant partners: the experience of health and social care collaboration 77
- A system within a system: the role of the Area Child Protection Committee 93
- Agents of change? The role of the designated and named health professionals 109
- Sleeping partners: GPs and child protection 125
- Health visitors and child protection 139
- ‘Healthy’ networks? NHS professionals in the child protection front line 153
- Conclusion 169
- References 185
- Index 209
