Can Complexity Theory Provide Better Understanding of Integrated Care?

Abstract

The patterns of health and social care provision in the community have always been complex. The Government's current call to integrate systems of care can be seen as a search for greater simplicity and predictability, but people in these systems know that any new networks will be equally complex. This article argues that our organisations and systems should no longer be viewed and managed as ‘machines’ with inherent rationality, and suggests that the new intellectual discipline of complexity theory offers a more relevant model with which to view the real world where we operate under the constraints of limited time, knowledge and processing power. The author is a general practitioner with an interest in applying complexity insights to health care organisation.

Citation

Kernick, D. (2003), "Can Complexity Theory Provide Better Understanding of Integrated Care?", Journal of Integrated Care, Vol. 11 No. 5, pp. 22-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/14769018200300047