An Evaluation of The Role of Social Workers: An Attempt to Improve Partnership Working Between Health and Social Care.

The aim of this research was to examine the role of a social worker and the need to increase understanding of the role amongst professionals in order to improve collaboration between health and social care, thus having a positive impact upon partnership working. This aim was achieved through secondary research into the health and social care developments from the 1800s through to 2003 and the phenomenon of partnership working. Following the analysis of the literature, a theoretical framework was developed surrounding four stages. Four parts of primary research were conducted, using both quantitative and qualitative methods: Stage 1: Exploring the health and social care policies addressing an individual at any stage. This required the use of health and social policy documents being mapped out in a tabulated format. Stage 2: Exploring the current thoughts on partnership working from key health and social care professionals. Interviews were held to obtain the results for this stage (3 participants). Stage 3: Exploring professional and organisational involvement in the care of older people (client group chosen from the results in stages 1 and 2) and joint working issues. The results for this stage were obtained through questionnaires sent to acute trusts and primary care trusts (99% response rate for the NHS trusts and 97% for the primary care trusts). Stage 4: Exploring the current role of a social worker within older people’s services. A survey of social workers’ job descriptions was used (54% response rate). The results found that: Older people had a lack of health and social polices addressing their needs. Those policies that were present were not complementary, and therefore did not instigate partnership working between health and social care. Partnership working is least effective in older people’s services. The human factor has an impact upon partnership working and can hamper its progress. There is a large involvement of social services and social workers in the care of older people. The role of social workers is fundamentally about getting the services to match the needs of the client. The study has provided a greater understanding of the role of social services and social workers within older people’s services and the need for partnership working to occur. There has to be recognition of the large involvement of social services and social workers in the care of older people. This will raise other professionals’ and organisations’ awareness of the role and recognise the importance of such an organisation and profession in the care of this particular client group. Additionally, there must be the emphasis upon understanding this role in order for partnership working to be fully successful. This study draws upon mainly one distinct field, health care management, which is applied to the role of a social workers and partnership working