Management, Partnership and User Involvement in Health and Social Care

Essay by pippyjakeUniversity, Master's June 2007

download word file, 18 pages 4.5

"Appreciating the essentiality of the widest possible inter agency and intersectoral partnership, and the centrality of meeting service user's needs, how best can we measure efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery according to the health and social needs of the public in our particular locality" IntroductionWith the wealth of legislative changes and subsequent regulation and directives; the service user has become a very important person in the world of health and also social care. These two sectors are often place together, but more importantly they have their own agendas and areas of specific management strategy that impact upon the needs and involvement of the service user. Therefore, we shall explore the concept of the socio-historical context of participation and collaboration; legislative mandated requirements; management measurements and involvement; service user and service collaboration and the inter-agency and partnerships that are now engaging the service user.

Management, Partnership and User Involvement in Health and Social CareThe concept of participation is very much an "in vogue" concept within health care circles, so much so, that new ways to move the balance of service user involvement is consistently being evolved and developed to procure a better understanding of what the service user is experiencing and also needing to improve, develop and pseudo-manage their levels of care and intervention with a firm voice.

This active community participation is not a new concept; it is primarily as suggested by Rifkin (1990) that:"There is no agreement among planners and professionals about the contribution of community participation to improving the lives of people … Some completely dismiss its value altogether, while others believe that it is the 'magic bullet', that will ensure improvements".

Even with a lack of consistent agreement the notion of community participation has been a continual development concept when planning, managing and engaging services for...