Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Essay title: With reference to a practice example of your choice, use the literature and seminar discussions to critically analyse inter-professional working with either: Children and families Or Adults. This essay will focus on inter-professional working in health and social care delivery. The history of inter-professional working will be explored. The nature and types of evidence underpinning inter-professional working focusing on the practice area of protection of vulnerable adults will be discussed. The range of factors that promote and create barriers to inter-professional working will be discussed. The implications of this essay will be discussed in relation to my future practice as a qualified Social Worker as a member of an inter-professional team. The concept of inter-professional working in recent years has been on the agenda since the 1940s and has been debated due to recognition of need (Quinney 2006). Since the 1970s government initiatives required different professions to work together to improve service delivery. More recently government legislation and policies have introduced partnership working for health and social care agencies, which led to inter-professional teamwork becoming the preferred model of working (Quinney 2006). Research indicates that, whilst there has been a generally held belief that collaboration is a very good thing and inter-professional teams have increasingly gained favour in recent years (Cartlidge et al 1991). There has been little evidence to substantiate the view that collaboration leads to an increase in the quality of care, which has furthered the well being of patients and service users (Leathard 1994) This model of joint team working is based on the premise that when health and social care agencies pool their resources and skills the service users will benefit from an efficient service that meets the holistic needs of the service user. However in theory the notion of inter-professional working is reasonable but in reality it does not always happen (Coombs and Ersser 2004). Hall (2005) ...read more.

Middle

One profession can suspect another profession of having their own interests at heart, this can lead to professionals trying to maintain their own independence and professional bodies by setting boundaries against other professions. The issue of information sharing and confidentiality can cause barriers to interporfessional working as different professions have different views on information sharing and confidentiality. The sharing of information between different agencies raises problems due to the wide range of different guidance for professionals to follow, which creates barriers to sharing information and working collaboratively. The Laming Report (2003) highlighted how inadequate information sharing had to be improved to stop such tragedies as the death of Victoria Climbie. Research by Robinson and Cottrell (2005) discovered that certain professions are excluded from sharing information or being unable to access information because of different computer systems. Social workers had found having limited access to information as an obstruction to their way of working in a holistic way with service users Frost et al (2005). There are social workers who are part of integrated services, as part of an interprofessional team, which leads to the delivery of a seamless service (Richardson and Asthana 2005). Payne (2000) suggests that in interprofessional teams professional overlap will occur due to different professionals carrying out similar tasks. However this needs to be clarified to maintain professional identity. Copperman and Newton (2005) published findings from interviews to record the views of social workers and interprofessional working. Many respondents who were interviewed had seen their role as been a facilitator across different sectors and felt in many ways their unique skills were undervalued and being eroded by the move to interprofessional teams. Richardson and Asthana (2005) published findings that collaborative practice can improve services by stopping service users from missing out on services and reducing role overlap. Research findings from Newton and Copperman (2005) suggested by working interprofessionally, services can be delivered taking into account service users views to meet individual need. ...read more.

Conclusion

pp.29-35. Northway, R. and Davies, R. and Jenkins, R. and Mansell, I. (2005) Evidencing good practice in adult protection: informing the protection of people with learning disabilities from abuse The Journal of Adult Protection 7(2) pp.28-36. Payne, M. (2000) teamwork in multiprofessional care Houndsmill Basingstoke Hampshire New York: Palgrave Macmillan 3rd edn. Payne, M. (2005) Modern Social Work Theory Houndsmill Basingstoke Hampshire New York: Palgrave Macmillan 3rd edn. Parsons, G. (2006) 'Setting the scene for protection of vulnerable adults (POVA) investigations'. The Journal of Adult Protection 8(2) pp.39-45. Richardson, S. and Asthana, S. (2005) 'Inter-agency Information Sharing in Health and Social Care Services The Role of Professional Culture'. British Journal of Social Work Advance Access 1 pp.1-13. Robinson, M. and Cottrell, D. (2005) 'Health professionals in multi-disciplinary and multi-agency teams: Changing professional practice'. Journal of Interprofessional Care 19(6) pp.547-560. Slater, P. (2005) 'Elder abuse, adult protection and social care: developments in New Labour policy'. The Journal of Adult Protection 7(3) pp.22-37. Sumner, K. (2002) No Secrets The Protection Of Vulnerable Adults from Abuse: Local Codes of Practice Findings from an analysis of local codes of practice. London: Centre For Policy On Ageing. West, S. (2006) Joining up adult protection and the disciplinary process The Journal of Adult Protection 8(1) pp4-17. Wishart, G. (2003) 'Abuse of adults with learning difficulties: user consultation in developing adult protection procedures and guidelines'. The Journal of Adult Protection 5 (4) pp.4-17. Farrell, M. P., Schmitt, M. H. and Heinemann, G. D. (2001). "Informal roles and the stages of interdisciplinary team development." Journal of Inter-professional Care 15(3): 281-295 Gregson, B., Cartlidge, A. and Bond, J. (1991). Inter-professional Collaboration in Primary Health Care Organisations. Occasional Paper 52. London, Royal College of General Practitioners. Greene, R. J., Cavell, G. F. and Jackson, S. H. D. (1996). "Inter-professional clinical education of medical and pharmacy students." Medical Education 30: 129-133 Westrin, C. (1987). "Primary health care: co-operation between health and welfare personnel: an international study." Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine 38: 1-76 Schon, D. (1988) Coaching Reflective Teaching. In Grimmett, P, Erickson, G. (eds.), Reflection in Teacher Education. Teachers College Press, New York. ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our University Degree Healthcare section.