module specification

The module will cover relevant theory, policy, practice and ethical issues. Definitions of partnership working and inter-professional care will be explored, alongside students' own reflections on past experiences. Professional codes and ethics, users’ rights and needs will be discussed, as will professional stereotypes. The impact of policy and organisational issues will be explored in relation to users and carers of services and the implications for working together, including negotiation and decision making.  Skills, capabilities and underpinning values will be addressed throughout and include communication, risk management, confidentiality, accountability and shared accountability. As part of the process students undertake small and large group works so some aspects of group and team dynamics will be explored: this will be important for developing self-awareness to allow students to acknowledge their own strengths and weaknesses with regard to development planning.  Please note we will use examples drawn from real cases as much as possible so the client group or setting is not the key point but what you can learn about the principles and practice of partnership working.

• To provide an opportunity for social work, health, youth work and other students, to explore key theory, policy and practice elements of partnership working within a user centred approach.  

• To enable students to experience in a highly interactive way and within a safe environment, partnership working and organisational management relevant to partnership working to inform present and future practice.

• To develop students’ capability to reflect upon their own experiences of partnership working and explore both factors that influence this, including resource constraints and the ethical bases across the different professional groups and to see how common values may underpin effective partnership working.

• To locate the changing nature of organisations and evaluate the implications for effective inter professional working within a theoretical framework

The integration of health and social care organisations has changed the employment base for many professionals and has increased the need for understanding and collaboration between the professions. Practitioners working within the field of Health and Social Care in both the statutory, voluntary and independent sectors work within a range of inter-professional teams, organisations, networks and systems in order to offer an improved service to service users. Inter-professional working requires practitioners to be able to learn and work together in order to overcome the potential constraints arising from different professional and organisational accountabilities, cultures, values and professional codes of conduct. The syllabus will cover relevant theory, policy, practice and ethical issues. Definitions of partnership working and inter-professional care will be explored, alongside students' own reflections on past experiences. Models of health and social care, social values and professional codes, cultures and user rights and needs will be discussed, as will professional stereotypes. The impact of health and social care policy and organisational issues will be explored in relation to users and carers of services and financial aspects of working together.  Skills, competencies and underpinning values will be addressed throughout and include communication, risk management, confidentiality, accountability and shared accountability regarding integrated care. As part of the process, students undertake small and large group works so some aspects of group and team dynamics will be explored.

Interactive workshops based on problem solving live issues, case studies, critical incidents, role play and simulated case conferences, user and carer panels, debates, small group work, video and formal lectures, personal reflection.

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

1. Appraise and evaluate the theoretical aspects of partnership working, inter-professional learning and inter-professional working and be able to apply them appropriately to their own practice context

2. Evaluate how different policies, professional codes, organisational frameworks and approaches impact on partnership working with users and carers

3. Identify and develop skills necessary for partnership working

4. Analyse the factors that promote or hinder partnership working and make recommendations for their sphere of practice

Everything we do during the module is to help you to build up the knowledge and skills you will need to complete your assessments successfully. There are informal individual and group work exercises and self-assessments, reflective writing tasks and also presentations and mini-simulated conferences/meetings and a draft report plan. They are designed specifically to help you build the knowledge and skills you will need and so that we can give you feedback.

The formal assessment is in TWO parts:

1. You must participate in an inter-professional class based meeting to demonstrate key aspects of effective partnership working and self-awareness. You must also provide a written commentary of the meeting, (1000 words) (20%), that is an analysis of the proceedings in relation to theory and the user’s perspective.

2. Write a 3,500 words report (80%) which has two elements:

Part A: a personal reflective account of your learning arising from the meeting and the module (500-700 words) (15%)

Part B: a critical review of relevant theory, policy and ethical issues in relation to the given report title, organisational frameworks and partnership working (3,000 words) (85%)

Barr, H. (1996) 'Ends and means in inter-professional education: towards a typology'. Education for health 9 (3) 341-352
Beresford, P & Branfield, F (2006) Developing inclusive partnerships: user-defined outcomes, networking and knowledge - a case study Health & Social Care in the Community, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 436-444, Sep
Brechin A, Brown H, Eby MA (eds) (2000) Critical Practice in Health & Social Care Sage OUP London
Croft S and Beresford P   ‘Service User Perspectives’ in Davies M (2002) Companion to Social Work. Blackwell
DH (2006) Health, work and well-being - Caring for our future: A strategy for the health and well-being of working age people The Stationery Office
DH (2004) Making Partnership work for patients, carers and service users: A strategic agreement between the Department of Health, The NHS and the Voluntary and Community Sectors The Stationery Office
DH (2002) A Joint Chief Inspector’s Report on Arrangements to Safeguard Children. The Stationery Office
DH (2000) No Secrets. Guidance on developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse The Stationery Office
Dowling B Glendinning C Powell M (2004) Conceptualising successful partnerships Health and Social Care in the Community 12(4) 309-317
GSCC (2002) Code of Conduct for Social Care Workers The General Social Care Council
Glendinning C Means R (2004) Rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic of long-term care – is organistional integration the answer? Critical Social Policy Vol 24(40 435-457
Harris S (2003) Interagency practice and professional collaboration: the case of drug education and prevention Journal of Education Policy May-June Vol 1 No 3 pp 303-314
Harrison  R, Mann G, Murphy M, Taylor A Thompson N (2003) Partnerships made painless. A joined up guide to working together Russell House Pub Dorset
Henwood M. (1998) Ignored and invisible Carers’ experience of the NHS Carers National Association: London
Hogg C (1999) Patients, Power & Politics From patients to citizens Sage: London
Leathard A (2003) Inter-professional Collaboration: From Policy to Practice in Health
and Social Care Psychology Press
Molyneaux J (2001) Inter-professional Team working: what makes teams work? Journal of Inter-professional Care  Vol 15 No 1 pp29-35
Newbury J Clarridge A Skinner J (1997) Collaboration for Care in Burley S, Mitchell EE, Melling K (edits) et al Contemporary Community Nursing, Edward Arnold
NMC (2008) The Code:  Standards of conduct; performance and ethics for nurses and midwives Nursing and Midwifery Council London
O'Keefe E. Ottewill R. Wall A. (1992) Community Health: issues in management Business Education Publishers Ltd. Sunderland
O’Neale,V (2000) Excellence Not Excuses. Inspection of Services for Ethnic Minority Children and Families. SSI DH Publications
Payne M (2000) Teamwork in Multi-professional care
Peck, E. Towell, D  & Gulliver, P (2001) The meanings of 'culture' in health and social care: a case study of the combined Trust in Somerset Journal of Inter-professional Care; 15 (4) Nov 2001, p.319-27
Ross, A., King, N., Firth, J. (2005)  "Inter-professional Relationships and Collaborative Working: Encouraging Reflective Practice “Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. January 31, Vol. 10 No. 1, Manuscript 3. Available: www.nursingworld.org/ojin/topic26/tpc26_3.htm
Skinner J Pike S (1999) Inter-professional Education and Working - A scoping study to investigate the development of an Inter-professional Education Strategy in Primary Health Care for the North London Education Consortium. University of North London  ISBN 185377 308 5
Zwarenstein M, Reeves S, Barr H, Hammick M, Koppel I, Atkins J. (2001) Inter-professional education: effects on professional practice and health care outcomes (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, 4, Oxford:.