Pacho, Agata, Wistow, Gerald, Mays, Nicholas, Thana, Lavanya, Rehackova, Lucia, Douglas, Nick, Al-Haboubi, Mustafa and Durand, Mary Alison (2025) The role and functions of community-based multidisciplinary teams in two integrated care and support Pioneers: perspectives from local system leaders. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 30 (1_suppl). 25S – 35S. ISSN 1355-8196
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Objectives Central government has been promoting closer integration between the National Health Service (NHS) and local government social services in England for more than five decades. Improved coordination between primary, hospital, community health and social services has been advocated as a cost-effective response to growing care needs in an ageing population. This paper concentrates on one of the principal local care coordination mechanisms: community-based multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) involving NHS and social services staff. It reports local leaders’ perceptions of MDTs’ current and future contributions to more coordinated care and support systems in two integrated care Pioneer sites. Methods Thirty-two qualitative semi-structured interviews with 25 local system leaders and operational managers in two contrasting Integrated Care and Support Pioneer areas were conducted between October 2018 and April 2021, as part of a wider evaluation of the Integrated Care and Support Pioneer Programme. Eight of those interviews took place after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and between lockdowns. Interviews were analysed thematically. Results Local leaders in both areas broadly shared a vision of integrated care in which MDTs were essential mechanisms for coordinating improvements in health and wellbeing, especially for older people who are frail, experience falls and have long-term health conditions. Organisational differences between and within sites influenced local decisions about the purpose and structure of MDTs, but, despite such variations, interviewees identified similar challenges to implementation. Staff turnover, often linked to funding uncertainties, and the lack of shared information systems, were among the most frequent operational challenges noted. System leaders valued national policy frameworks as potential enablers of integrated care but also recognised the role of local contexts in shaping local implementation decisions. Interviewees highlighted benefits emerging from multidisciplinary working, including its potential to deliver more holistic care, fewer instances of work duplication, speedier access to care and enhanced home care provision. However, they were concerned such benefits were not always captured by commonly used performance indicators and thus the value of MDTs could be under-estimated. Conclusions Local contextual variables and local understandings of these variables appeared to be the main influences on variations in local responses to national expectations of improvements in care integration. Local leaders in both areas broadly shared a vision of integrated care in which MDTs provided essential mechanisms for securing interdependent improvements in both the health and wellbeing of local populations and improvements in workforce job satisfaction.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2025 The Author(s) |
| Divisions: | Care Policy and Evaluation Centre |
| Subjects: | R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Aug 2025 09:33 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Aug 2025 09:33 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/128986 |
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