Work in partnership Essay Example for Free

Work in partnership Essay Working in partnership with other colleagues and professionals is detrimental in being able to provide a service fit for need as it helps promote team working which i believe motivates a team to work well and excel them. It also helps every person involved in providing the service aware of all obstacles that could arise and any outcomes to achieve or have been achieved. Within a children’s setting it can also help build positive environments for children to be in and this would help a child or young person settle better into a new environment so that you are able to assess a person or child and manage tasks efficiently. It helps creates a safe environment to share information as nearly all professionals update themselves with technology, information can now be sent password protected via a encrypted system which deters others from being able to access a person’s private information by a secure connection. Sharing information about a person can help the smooth running of a service as it enables all involved to be fully aware of each person’s position and remit and allows others to know who to approach for feedback or guidance. Working in partnership with others i.e. family members or carers helps with the smooth running of a service, as family members hold a lot of information past and present about a person which can be used to build a care plan. Family are often keen to assist with service provision for a person and by working in partnership with them it creates positives relationships. You can put a person’s mind at ease with regard to the level of support a person may need. If it is a child or young person a parent or guardian would need much reassurance to know that they are leaving the child in safe capable hands therefore it is imperative that pre assessments are carried out. We have in the past used an informal interview process for new services for a person  who may have either complex or long term needs i.e. a waking night service. We would before the service is due to start we would set up an informal meeting at the clients home and arrange for 3-4 people to go and meet the client their family or NOK. This would allow them to put any questions forward and explain specific tasks and how they should be carried out. It also helps as when the service does start the person coming to assist is not a stranger. This in turn helps a nok, guardian, parent or family member enjoy their respite without fear of the person not being able to manage. This has worked well on many occasions and this is something we intend to keep as a way of matching the correct care support assistant to the person who needs support. Analyse how partnership working delivers better outcomes. Partnership working can help to deliver better outcomes for all health and social care professionals from a commissioning, performance management, service delivery and service improvement purpose. As we move forward with new legislation and processes it is important to deliver person centred care. This means we need range of expertise, knowledge and experience in order to deliver the best possible service for an individual. From the outset we are able to use the information gathered from social worker assessment, hospital discharge letters care plans and risk assessment to produce a plan tailored for a specific person. For example we currently have client who requires support from a team of Care Support Assistants, District Nurse Teams and mental health community team. By working in partnership we are able to get up to date information and guidance on the person’s condition and how to manage it from a professional point of view. We work well with arranging our service delivery around the schedule for the District Nurse’s therefore we book out daily visits either before or after their due to attend for two reasons. We found that when we attended for a review meeting and there were too many people in the property this caused panic and distress to the service user it was agreed by all that any visits would be made by appointment only and by 2 people maximum, also due to the high demand and limited resources District Nurse teams have, it worked well by planning our visits to a different time to their arrival so that they  were not kept longer than they needed to be and vice versa for our staff. There is a joint log book left in the property for any concerns or follow up actions to be taken and this is signed once the action has been acknowledged or completed. We worked with the service user to make this plan to minimise disruption and undue distress to him as by not following this plan could lead to a setback in his recovery which in turn would mean outcomes would not be met. Therefore in this instance and for most it shows that partnership working is how we proceed to working to ensure that out comes are met efficiently and if this cannot be achieved how we change our methods to enable achieved outcomes. Explain how to overcome barriers to partnership working. There can be many barriers to partnership working and most commonly arise due to a lack of experience, lack of time and a disregard for importance. Others include a lack of trust especially when it comes to children. There are many parents who initially will put a barrier up to professionals as they tend to feel that strangers are coming in to their home to tell them how to be a parent or how to look after their child. A good way of overcoming this barrier is to build a relationship with the family first, listen to the incidents, issues or concerns they have. By supporting them through the crisis/difficult time will build trust within the circle and helps them to make informed choices in a relaxed environment. Acknowledging each other’s expertise for example a parent will feel they know their child better than any other person which is correct however a professional will have seen a child similar to the one they have been allocated to many times therefore with their joint expe rtise this would make a great team. It is important to sure that you are there to support the family unit not to criticise them and this can lead to positives outcomes and overcome barriers in partnership working. For adults it can be easier to break through these barriers especially if it is to support a person who has capacity. By speaking to them to conduct assessments you get to build a good idea of a person’s character, need and attitude toward a service. It allows you to build a rapport with someone share stories and common interests if any. This can be relationship building. I recently had this experience with a service. I was  contacted privately by a husband and wife who have physical disabilities, they are wheelchair and housebound without assistance. Upon speaking to Mrs x it was clear she had some bad experiences with other providers. I decided to visit them in their home to get a broader picture of the service they wanted and problems they had in the past to try and work out how improve their opinions of care providers. Upon speaking to them it was clear that although they both have medical conditions that reduce their ability to be fully independent they were not totally incapacitated. They wanted to be treated as adults not children or elderly people who were not able to fend for thems elves. They had social needs just the same as those who are fully independent for example going to the cinema and shopping. Mr x is a keen football fan and liked talking about sports. I believed i had gained some thrust and set about finding the ideal person to provide their service. We have had the service for approximately 1 year and in that time we have had to make changes to care workers who did not work out but the current Care Support Assistant has been with since February 2014 and all communication with Mr and mrs is positive. It is in agreement that planned absences require a second and third person to cover their service and shadowing the regular Care Support Assistant always takes place. By working together closely for those 3 months and investing my time in to rebuilding their opinion I feel I have worked in partnership with them and succeeded in overcoming the initial barriers that were there. Explain own role and responsibilities in working with colleagues. My role as the Service Team Leader/ Registered Manager firstly has a legal responsibility to ensure that everyone who is in receipt of a service is kept safe from risk, harm and abuse. It is my job to ensure that all staff are fully equipped with knowledge and training to go into the field and demonstrate that they are able and suitable for the role they have been appointed to. It is my role to supervise the office staff to give guidance and support where necessary. Set tasks on week by week basis according to the needs of the business. I take the lead on any complaint or safeguarding referral we may receive and investigate. I am responsible for the petty cash kept on site and to provide our accounts team each month of the breakdown of  money spent. It is my duty to complete supervisions and appraisals for office and field staff, maintain a good working relationship with local authorities. Providing my seniors with a monthly KPI report. Keep a professional boundary with all staff a nd service users. These are an example of what is expected of me in my role however i am also available and required to support in other roles as necessary i.e. provide an out of hours service on a rota basis, provide all induction training for new applicants as well as refresher training for existing members of staff. Evaluate own working relationship with colleagues. To evaluate my own work i need to be able to request positive or negative criticism as to how i may have handled a situation so that i can learn from the experience and improve for next time. I need to be able to self evaluate and not just rely solely on another persons opinion. By doing a self analysis i am able to pick up what my strengths and weaknesses are to be improved. This can also help with the quality of my work and setting myself targets to achieve to feel a great sense of completion helps motivate me which in turn passes on a positive working environment on to my team to help all of us excel. I feel presently as i am very open and honest with all my staff and my approachable manor i feel that i am able to communicate well my expectations of how i believe the service should be run and this is passed on to field staff and rarely do i feel i need to display any negative comments on to the team. We communicate by text and email with our field staff and i often send out messag es of gratitude to those have worked well over weekends as there are many issues that could prevent a service running smoothly. I feel that by appreciating my staff at any level i have formed good working relationships however there is always a need for improvement. Explain own role and responsibility in working with other professionals. It is my role to build relationships with outside organisations such as local authorities, district nurse teams, hospital teams and social work teams. I take the lead with all safeguarding investigations and work with the professionals involved in resolving the issues raised. Although it is my  duty to take the lead i expect my office to be able to share the responsibility to an extent for example if i am away from the office for any reason i.e. annual leave or sickness, i expect the rest of the team to be able to conduct an initial investigation to gather facts and provide a summary of the incident or concern raised so that i can take over on return. I feel that this does not limit the office to one way of working or delay important tasks. It can also help promote personal development to enable a junior member of staff to gain experience in order to progress either within or outside of our organisation. It is my role to attend all contract meetings to discuss possible issues withi n our service or for feedback to passed back to our staff to give thanks appreciation for something we did well. Evaluate procedures for working with professionals. The procedure for working with other professionals remains the same across the board. Every person is expected to treat all they come into contact with, with respect, be responsive to any equality and diversity matters as discussed. Confidentiality is to be adhered to at all times and personal information is not being discussed with those outside of the professional circle. Information relating to a person or child should be shared on a need to know basis and as agreed. Each professional is responsible for their own department and are expected to deal with matters as they arise within agreed timescales. Professionals are expected to work together to obtain the best possible outcomes in the safest way. Each person has a duty of care to protect those they care for from being subjected to any form of harm or abuse and to report any concerns to a senior person or to a care management team within a local authority. Professional opinions should be sought from specialist teams before partaking in any task that could potentially cause concern. For example the procedure for reporting any concern or information regarding one of our clients from the local authority is to write a detailed email containing all the facts we have at hand. We then send this to the placements and brokerage email who are regarded as our contact team within this borough. This is sent via a secure website with password protection. They will then forward on to the relevant social work team in oreder for  this to be either recorded or dealt with. We then if need be wait for a response and a resolution to the query and work together to reach an outcome. Analyse the importance of working in partnership with others. It is extremely important to work in partnership with others as every person wants the best level and quality of care for the person they are dealing with, acting on behalf of or have a personal relationship i.e. parent, child, guardian NOK. I feel the best outcome sought by all is the wellbeing, safety and happiness of the person or child who requires support. There is also a level of consistency for not only you but for the person or child you are supporting. Children need consistency especially if you are supporting a child who has autism. Children who live with this condition require a huge amount of support. They do not adapt well to change and require routine to help them have a good quality of life and experience. By not working in partnership with others it would not be possible to build and establish relationships, improve service delivery and help the child transition well to an adult. For an elderly person working in partnership helps them have a better quality of life by having a unit of support who know their needs and are familiar to them. By working in partnership it allows every person you support to access to different activities and support. It is also good to surround yourself and your settings with professionals from all backgrounds and groups and to create relationships so you can use, learn and share resources and experience to achieve outcomes. Evaluate procedures for working with others. The procedure for working with others is very much similar to those as working with professionals. The main requirement is be honest, communicative and detailed in every aspect. It is important to seek consent and permission from the person or a child guardian, parent or NOK you are supporting before any tasks procedure or assessment takes place. It is important that you involve others in the care planning process in order to achieve the outcomes as they know themselves or their loved one best to know their strengths, weaknesses and desires to a service delivery. You are expected to treat  others with respect and dignity. As part of our pre-employment paperwork all staff office and field base are expected to sign and adhered to the dignity promise. Continued regular monitoring and supervision ensures that others are adhering and receiving all aspects of the dignity promise. That any concern raised will be dealt with efficiently and professionally. It is more common for others to be come upset and angry and may fall from treating people with respect. However this does not absolve a professional from completing their task, but it does mean that an increased sense of awareness needs to be adopted so that all can remain safe. We previously had a service user that all we was required to do was support him in taking his medication. Unfortunately his wife suffered with Dementia and she would often try and attack staff and make accusation that they were trying make her husband ill. After working with family the service user himself and other professionals it was decided that this call would be attended by two care workers. Although it did not require 2 care workers to support him to take the medication, the second care worker was sent in to distract his wife so that the first care worker could safely support him. This was due to all involved wanting the outcome to be safe. Mr x was less anxious about the distress it caused upsetting his wife and being concerned for his own health if he did not receive his medication. We continued to mon itor this new approach and all feedback was positive.