Working in Partnership with other Professionals in Health and Social Care Practice

Working in Partnership with other Professionals in Health and Social Care Practice

In the recent past, various industry players in the health and social care sectors have opted for partnership working in order to facilitate their ability to deliver high quality services.Partnership working refers to a collaborative work between two or more individuals, governments, agencies or organizations with shared interests. Two or more parties that would like to address specific goals and objectives or achieve certain goals usually create a partnership working; for example, police officers may work together with members of a community in order to improve social security within a given area or community. Similarly, healthcare institutions such as dispensaries and hospitals may work with the community to help in controlling the spread of a particular disease such as cholera. Douglas (2009) defines a partnership working as a condition in which individuals work across the boundaries of two or more organizations with an aim of attaining specific goals or positive results.

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According to Douglas (2009), it is important for individuals or organizations in a working partnership to ensure that there are adequate communication, coordination of activities, and cooperation between the concerned partners so as to facilitate realization and achievement of the target goals and objectives. In the last few years, partnership working in health and social care services has become a central focus for the industry players as well as government agencies.

This essay will review various philosophies of working in partnerships in health and social care services and the barriers faced by organizations in partnership working. It will also provide an analysis of partnership relationships within health and social care sectors. Moreover, this essay also looks at some of the models of partnership working across the health and social care sectors and possible strategies that may be adopted by organizations in attempt to improve partnership working in the two sectors.

Reasons Why Organizations Choose to Work in Partnerships. According to Balloch and Taylor (2011), organizations usually choose partnership working in order to improve their abilities to deliver highly coordinated health and social care services. Organizations also choose to work in partnerships so as to be able to effectively tackle various issues or problems that might be too complex to be tackled by a single organization; for example, community policing services by the police and other security agencies or implementation of new healthcare programs that aim at improving community health by the national government. Organizations in the health and social care sectors also enter into working partnerships so that they may easily provide services across various traditional and cultural boundaries. For instance, healthcare centres in United States may work closely with cultural organizations that have adequate understanding of the Spanish culture so as to enable them provide health and social care services that are in line with Spanish culture.

Additionally, organizations may choose to work in partnerships so that they may reduce gaps in provision and delivery of health and social care services. This is achieved through pooling together of various resources such as medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and personnel that are required for efficient provision of health and social care services.

Glasby and Littlechild (2002) also assert that partnership working also enables organizations to provide a wider range of services more effectively. This has resulted into increased satisfaction of consumers as well as provided more health and social care benefits to the target consumers. Lastly, organizations may choose to work in partnerships in order to enable them meet various statutory requirements imposed by regulatory authorities such as the national and federal governments.

Philosophies of Working in Partnerships in Health and Social Care Sectors. Various philosophies have been formed to facilitate partnership working between organizations in health and social care sectors. Some of these philosophies include empowerment of partner organizations, interdependence, autonomy and respect, power sharing, and making of informed decisions.

Firstly, organizations involved in partnership working must be able to empower each other through adequate coordination of activities and cooperation. This increases the ability of the partnering organizations to achieve the target goals and objectives.

Secondly, organizations working as partners in provision of health and social care services may depend on each other for financial, economic or social support. Interdependence between the partnering organizations usually helps in coordination of activities and resources as well as sharing of information needed for making decisions. For example, a social care institution may liaise with a charity organization that supplies it with food items and other basics to use in taking care of the old people.

Thirdly, although collaborating organizations may depend on each other, the level of interdependency must be limited to a certain extent. In other words, each individual organization must be able to stand on its own irrespective of the partnership working. For example, a rehabilitation centre that provides services to drug addicts may collaborate with an association of psychologists.

At the same time, it should be able to continue providing rehabilitation services in the absence of psychologists from the association. However, it is important to no……………………..