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Frontline perspectives on "joined-up" working relationships: a qualitative study of social prescribing in the West of Scotland

White, Jane M., Cornish, Flora ORCID: 0000-0002-3404-9385 and Kerr, Susan (2017) Frontline perspectives on "joined-up" working relationships: a qualitative study of social prescribing in the West of Scotland. Health and Social Care in the Community, 25 (1). pp. 194-203. ISSN 0966-0410

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Identification Number: 10.1111/hsc.12290

Abstract

Cross-sector collaboration has been promoted by government policies in the United Kingdom and many western welfare states for decades. Literature on joint working has focused predominantly on the strategic level, neglecting the role of individual practitioners in putting ‘joined-up working’ into practice. This paper takes the case of ‘social prescribing’ in the West of Scotland as an instance of joined-up working, in which primary healthcare professionals are encouraged to refer patients to non-medical sources of support in the third sector. This study draws on social capital theory to analyse the quality of the relationships between primary healthcare professionals and third sector practitioners. Eighteen health professionals and 15 representatives of third sector organisations participated in a qualitative interview study. Significant barriers to collaborative working were evident. The two stakeholder groups expressed different understandings of health, with few primary healthcare professionals considering non-medical sources of support to be useful or relevant. Health professionals were mistrustful of unknown third sector organisations, and concerned about their accountability for referrals that were not successful or positive for the patient. Third sector practitioners sought to build trust through face-to-face interactions with health professionals. However, primary healthcare professionals and third sector practitioners were not connected in effective networks. We highlight the on-going imbalance of power between primary healthcare professionals and third sector organisations. Strategic collaborations should be complemented by efforts to build shared understandings, trust and connections between the diverse frontline workers whose mutual co-operation is necessary to achieve effective joined-up working.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(IS...
Additional Information: © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Divisions: Methodology
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date Deposited: 03 Sep 2015 10:56
Last Modified: 26 Feb 2024 19:39
Funders: Glasgow Caledonian University, School of Health and Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/63382

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