Search results

This study examined the contribution of adult social work in integrated teams in the UK.

The study design was realist, evaluation research using a mixed methods approach. Data collection methods included interviews and focus groups. Types of social work activities were extracted from older adults' case records and used to calculate costs of care. The presence or absence of indicators of care quality was recorded using the same sample of case records. Data were collected from three primary care teams in which social work was integrated. They were compared with data from three social-work-only teams in the same districts. Narrative data was analysed thematically. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to compare costs and care quality.

When social work was embedded or attached to a primary care team, costs of care delivery were lower than in their social-work-only team and more indicators of good quality care outcomes were recorded. Results suggest that embedding social work in integrated primary care teams contributes to cost-effective, quality care for older people if certain conditions for integration are met.

This is the first study to triangulate three data sources to quantify the social work contribution to integrated primary health care teams for older adults.

Integrated care has been identified as essential to delivering the reforms required in health and social care across the UK and other healthcare systems. Given this suggests new ways of working for health and social care professionals, little research has considered how different professions manage and mobilise their professional identity (PI) whilst working in an integrated team. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A qualitative cross-sectional study was designed using eight focus groups with community-based health and social care practitioners from across Wales in the UK during 2017.

Participants reported key factors influencing practice were communication, goal congruence and training. The key characteristics of PI for that enabled integrated working were open mindedness, professional trust, scope of practice and uniqueness. Blurring of boundaries was found to enable and hinder integrated working.

This research was conducted in the UK which limits the geographic coverage of the study. Nevertheless, the insight provided on PI and integrated teams is relevant to other healthcare systems.

This study codifies for health and social care practitioners the enabling and inhibiting factors that influence PI when working in integrated teams.

Recommendations in terms of how healthcare professionals manage and mobilise their PI when working in integrated teams are somewhat scarce. This paper identifies the key factors that influence PI which could impact the performance of integrated teams and ultimately, patient care.

The purpose of the paper is to study the influence of procurement on the performance of integrated design teams.

The research paradigm is based on Russian socio‐constructivist approach to activity theory. Activity theory, as opposed to natural or social science, is a design science approach that focuses on the context aspect of project. A triangulation of qualitative research methods is used to investigate the dynamic of integrated teams in two different procurement contexts.

The paper is conclusive regarding the influence of procurement on team efficiency. It demonstrates that traditional procurement processes reinforce socio‐cognitive barriers that hinder team efficiency. It also illustrates how new procurement modes can transform the dynamic of relationships between the client and the members of the supply chain, and have a positive impact on team performance.

The paper demonstrates first that problems with integrated design team efficiency are related to context and not process – they are not technical but socio‐cognitive; second that fragmented transactional contracting increases socio‐cognitive barriers that hinder integrated design team performance; third that new forms of relational contracting may help to mitigate socio‐cognitive barriers and improve integrated design team performance, fourth that changing the context through procurement does not address the problem of obsolete design practices.

The paper brings together theories of production in lean construction and social learning as a rival approach to traditional project management theory for demonstrating the importance of context on team performance.

This paper reflects on the experience of an integrated multi‐disciplinary team over three years. We argue that initial anxieties about dilution of professional identity have not been realised in practice, partly because they were over‐stated in the first place, partly because of good planning and partly because the benefits of integrated working are so evident to professional staff that their confidence in their contribution is enhanced. We also suggest that new roles can make a substantial contribution to integrated working. The evidence for these conclusions is mainly the views of the staff involved. The article concludes with two individual case studies which highlight improved user outcomes.

The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and outcomes for adults with complex needs over time, within and between two teams that delivered integrated care across different Councils' services. The teams' approach to integration included two key features: a “case lead” way of working and the team itself operating as a single point of access (SPA) for residents in given neighbourhoods with high deprivation.

The study was designed as evaluation research located in the realist tradition. Two teams acted as a case study to provide an in-depth understanding of how the case lead approach and SPA delivered the craft and graft of integrated working in the teams. Mixed methods of data collection included residents' ratings of their quality of life on five domains in an outcome measure over a six-month period. Residents and staff working in the teams also participated in semi-structured interviews to explore their respective experiences and receiving and delivering integrated care. The costs of care delivery incurred by residents were calculated based on their demands on public services in the year leading up to the teams' intervention and the projected costs for one year following this.

The relationship between team context, case leads' inputs and residents' outcomes was mediated through the managerial style in the integrated teams which enabled case leads to be creative and do things differently with residents. Case leads worked holistically to prevent residents being in crisis as well as giving practical help such as sorting debts and finances and supporting access to volunteering or further education. Residents rated their quality of life as significantly improved over a six-month period and significant savings in costs as result of the teams' support were projected.

The study used a multi-evaluation realistic evaluation methodology to explore the relationship between team context, case leads' inputs and residents' outcomes in terms that integrated services across different District and County Council Departments.

Defective stakeholder management has frequently resulted in conflicts and partial failures. Integrated project delivery (IPD) and team integration provides opportunities for organizations to achieve more than they could on their own. The purpose of this study is to analyze the level and challenges of team integration. In addition, study tries to recognize the cornerstones for creating integrated teams in construction projects.

This paper discusses the characteristics and level of team integration in a construction project, but the main purpose is to derive the cornerstones for creating integrated teams. Results are derived from the analysis of current literature and an empirical case study.

This paper describes the 12 characteristics of an integrated project team. In addition, the cornerstones for creating integrated teams were recognized as the early involvement and assessment of stakeholders, continuous communication and interaction, cultural change, and making the IPD process well known.

The construction industry is aware of the need to improve control over its delivery processes. In addition, the customers are aware of waste and have started to demand more value. Because IPD and team integration supports the controlling over delivery processes and enables the more efficient value creation, these are extensive issues in developing construction industry.

Team integration is an important part of value creation. Limited research attention has been directed at what the level of integration is compared with the characteristics of integration. This paper also advances team integration research by identifying the cornerstones for integration.

Salford City Council and Salford Primary Care Trust have established eight ‘integrated health and social care teams’ across the city, supporting older people and vulnerable adults. Teams are aligned with GP practice‐based commissioning clusters. The evaluation of the initial pilot identified success factors, barriers and lessons learnt in order to plan and roll out systematic implementation across the city. The evaluation and subsequent staff development programme supporting change management were designed and delivered in partnership with Manchester Business School. Improved access to and delivery of services were achieved.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of one element of the integrated work which has taken place in Central Manchester, the development of multi-disciplinary Practice-Integrated Care Teams (PICT). The paper will show how working together has become a practical reality for members of these teams, and is forming the building blocks for further integration across neighbourhoods.

This paper draws on the author’s experience of working in the PICT project from 2012 to 2014. The report will draw on the evaluation work which took place during the project, and will include reflections from others involved in the project and members of the teams.

The integrated care teams which have been developed in Central Manchester have started to make significant changes to the ways that professionals work together, to the experience that patients have and to the costs of urgent care provision. Whilst there is still a long way to go, there has been significant learning from the PICT. This includes improved patient outcomes and experience. There has been an overall reduction in secondary care activity for patients the teams have been working with, with the largest reduction being in emergency admissions. Alongside this, patient feedback has reinforced the value of this personalised approach and increased overall satisfaction with the care and advice received from health and social care professionals and an improved professional experience. Evaluation has demonstrated that amongst professionals involved in the team there is a strong commitment to the principles of integrated care and that the confidence, skills and capacity of the teams have strengthened since this way of working has been introduced. As monitoring of financial impact continues to develop, cost savings from secondary care, particularly around emergency unplanned care, are encouraging.

This paper draws on the recent experience of designing and delivering integrated care across a range of multi-agency, multi-professional partners. The model which has been developed centres around the role of general practice, and has enabled primary care to take a key role in the development of an out-of-hospital integrated care system. This has enabled community professionals such as nurses and social workers to build a much stronger relationship with general practice and enable system linkages which will be essential to the delivery of joined-up health and social care in the future. The project has been accompanied by thorough and ongoing evaluation to support the validity of the learnings which have been reported.

Many clients who suffer from severe mental health problems also struggle with alcohol and drug use. And although there seems to be a consensus in most European countries that integrated treatment models (especially the integrated treatment of dual disorder clients model) are best fitted to help these clients, none of these have strong evidence, mostly owing to methodological limitations in the studies. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of why integrated treatment is helpful by conducting in-depth interviews with dual disorder clients who are currently receiving integrated treatment.

This study is a qualitative thematic analysis using a timeline tool to elicit participants’ responses. In the interviews, dual diagnosis clients with severe problems reflected on their situation at admission, the care they received in integrated treatment and their opinions on positive and negative elements. The interviews were coded and analysed with MAXQDA.

In the analyses of the interviews, this study found three clusters of elements that clients indicated were the most helpful during their treatment and recovery process: trusting and meaningful relationship with the team, components of integrated treatment and organisation of care.

The findings emphasized the importance of working relationship in the treatment of complex and long-term problems. This has implications for the evaluation of these integrated treatment models which so far mainly focuses on specific interventions.

Well‐documented corporate demands for crossfunctionally competent employees have instigated a wide variety of efforts by the educational community to integrate business curricula. Many colleges and universities struggle to functionally integrate business programs that historically have been delivered by well‐defined, and often well‐siloed, disciplines. Drawing from the numerous published and unpublished case studies of cross‐functional integration attempts, this study develops a framework of critical issues to consider when developing an integrated program. The framework develops five major categories of issues (strategic, leadership, administrative, faculty, and student) to help universities identify typical program decisions and potential roadblocks that may inhibit the development of a successful program.