Integrated Healthcare Systems: Fostering Collaboration for Enhanced Service User Satisfaction

Introduction

In the health and social care sector, integrated working practice is effective of the health care professionals to develop effective team and engage the service users in the health care system in order to maximise the satisfaction of the users of the health care service (Cook et al., 2017). Through integrated working system, the health care providers are able to develop effective team and enhance the partnership working practice in the health and social care institutions so that they can fulfil the health and wellbeing of the social communities as a whole by contributing positively through efficient service and care for the service users (Bailey and Mutale, 2019). The report aims at identifying the importance if integrated working practice and the benefits of engaging the service users as well as through this study, it is possible to acknowledge the policies and practice to promote integrated working at the health and social care context, where all the stakeholders can be engaged with each other for better performance. The study also provides a scope to develop business planning for the organisation where the health care institution aims at serving the social communities across the country with adequate treatment and efficient care so that the wellbeing of the individuals can be maximised well. The business planning is hereby important to develop budget for the health care institution and manage the profit volume so that it would be possible for the care home to reallocate the resources for further health care research and development of the organisation.

Importance of integrated working practice

The integrated working practice is effective for the health and social care professionals to develop clear vision and mission of the organisation where the employees are trying to understand their roles and responsibilities in the workplace and contribute positively in achieving the organisational mission (Tucker and Green, 2016). The main aim of the health care organisation is to maximise the wellbeing and satisfaction of the patients or the individuals, where the health care professionals try to provide high quality treatment and care to all the individuals. In this regard, it is necessary for the health care professionals to develop effective team for partnership working and promoting the integrated working practice in the organisation to share their experience and values with each other. Sharing experience and values with each other is the major benefit of promoting integrated working practice, where the individuals can improve their understanding and gain more in-depth knowledge and develop their skill to treat the patient efficiently (Drysdale, 2017).

Additionally, the employees can work as a partnership basis, where they can learn their doubts at the workplace and improve their efficiencies to perform better. Cooperative learning is another advantage of developing integrated working practice, where the health care professionals can work collaboratively in the workplace. Proper assessment of the patients and acknowledging their actual diseases and difficulties can also be other benefits of promoting integrated working practice, where the health care professionals can understand the difficulties and diseases of the patients in the health care organisation and it would be possible for the professionals to treat them efficiently (Bostock et al., 2018). Continuous support and care can be provided through integrated working practice, where the employees can share their responsibilities and task at the workplace. Providing essential insights, greater opportunity to patient management and increasing the organisational capacity are also other advantages of developing integrated working practice. On the other hand, strengthening working relationship and providing greater expertise are also other benefits of developing integrated working practice, where the health care providers try to collaborate and communicate with each other for better performance. Through enhancing communication and improving collaboration, the professionals are able to serve better treatment and care successfully (Smith, Gibbard and Higgins, 2017).

Additionally, the quality of care can be improved efficiently where the health care professionals can deliver high quality treatment and health care service to all the individuals and apart from that, the employees and staff are engaged properly with the working activities and they can share their opinion to improve performance. In this regard, the health care professionals can maximise the patient’s care and implement new health care model for better treatment of the patients (Gudnadottir, Bjornsdottir and Jonsdottir, 2019). In this regard, the care professionals also can share good clinical practice and better use of the organisational resources can be possible in the organisation. Hereby, it is beneficial for the organisations to develop integrated working practice, so that all the care professionals can collaborate with each other for betterment of the patients in the care home. It is important for the care professionals to be integrated while working to serve better treatment and quality care to the patients, were the physicians, general doctor, physiotherapist, surgeon, social care workers and other professionals try to develop partnership working and utilise their expertise to treat the patients efficiently.

Policies and practice of promoting integrated working framework in health care

Integrated working practice in the health and social care system is beneficial for the health and social care professionals to serve the patients and maximise the values for overall social communities. Professionalism in the health and social care needs to be maintained properly while working in the care home. For developing professionalism and integrated care practice in the care home it is necessary for the leaders to develop organisational couture, which is playing crucial role in managing the workplace and develop appropriate team for future. In this regard, the leaders need to focus on managing workplace ethics, by maintaining transparency and accountability at the workplace (Devine, Clifford and McDaid, 2017). All the employees are treated fairly and the leader must be supportive and directive to lead the staff and service providers towards achieving future organisational success. For developing integrated working practice, the leader must provide incentives for partnership working practice and encourage the employees for better teamwork. Continuous monitoring process at the workplace and the encouragement for the employees are effective to support the staff and service providers and influence them to develop partnership working practice in the workplace of the care home. The leader also needs to arrange the training and on the job technical practice so that it is possible for the employees to take active part in the training and gather in depth knowledge and clinical expertise successfully. The leaders in this regard are supportive and directive where proper directions, rules and the strategies to deliver high quality treatment to the patients are there which further influence the staff to develop integrated working practice (Nicholson et al., 2018).

The leader is also responsible in the care home to improve critical thinking and problem solving skill of the employees where appropriate research and development and technical training are effective to develop integrated working practice at the care home. Additionally, the leader tries to maintain flexibility to work, where the staff and the service users can choose their working hours and it further helps them to stabilise the work life balance. The leaders also give incentives and rewards to the service users, which are also effective for developing integrated working. The leaders hereby play an important role in leading the employees and developing integrated working practice successfully. In this context, it can also be stated that, the leaders try to encourage the staff for teamwork and partnership working practice needs proper empowerment of all the staff and stakeholders of the business. In this regard, the leaders try to empower all the staff members and service providers including doctors, physicians and nurses in the care plan and organisational decision making practice so that they can share their experience and knowledge and contribute positively in developing effective decision (Brook, Salmon and Knight, 2017). In this regard, proper empowerment of the service providers further raise the interest of the staff to work positively and contribute in building integrated workplace. under the integrated workplace, there are inter professional working practice, where the leader tries to develop inter-professional working practice so that the different professionals can collaborate with each other for working better and maximise their performance by sharing experience and clinical expertise. In this situation, the doctors, surgeon, general physicians, psychotherapist and nurses are trying to collaborate with each other to treat the patient and develop appropriate care plan. Hereby, integrated working practice is beneficial for the service providers to be cooperative and communicative with each other and share each other’s experience for developing appropriate care plan for the patients (Stewart et al., 2017).

In order to develop integrated working practice, it is necessary to enhance cooperation among the employees and in this context, the staff and service providers must be collaborative with each other at the workplace. Shared vision and sharing responsibilities are effective strategy or developing integrated working practice, where all the professionals try to cooperate and share their roles with each other to deliver better care and quality treatment to the patients. Better cooperation must be there, where the doctors and nurses can cooperate and share their understanding and views successfully. On the other hand, open communication is another strategy for developing integrated working practice at the health and social care home, where the staff and other health care professionals try to develop internal and external communication while serving better care and support to the patients.opn communication at the care home and group discussion with the doctors, physicians, surgeon, psychiatrics and nurses are effective to develop partnership working practical and manage team work successfully. Training in this regard is another effective practice where the staff members try to share their experience and gather more clinical expertise for working cooperatively. Mutual respect and trust must be there among the employees so that all the professionals can cooperate and improve communicate by respecting each other’s decision for treating the individuals efficiently.

Supportive working practice and teamwork in the organisational workplace are hereby necessary to develop integrated workplace and the strategic planning of facilitating flexible work place and harmony are also beneficial for partnership working. Continuous communication with the leader and the health care management team as well as collaboration are also another way to develop integrated working practice, where every social workers are responsible to manage their roles at the care home. The team managers need to understand the organisational gaol of managing the patients and creating values for them by delivering quality care and efficient treatment to all of them. Proper understanding about the organisational gaols and shared vision are mandatory to create team work and apart from that, the people are empowered well in serving the patients efficiently. Honest and respectful communication, body language and creative and innovative decision making practice are also effective to develop integrated working practice in the health and social care home (McLoughlin et al., 2018). Thus, it would be beneficial for the care home to develop integrated working practice by managing health care professionalism and implementing the code of conduct of harmony and freedom, flexibility at workplace, rewards and incentives, encouraging employee’s creativity and managing safety and security of the staff at the care home are beneficial to develop partnership working and better professional collaboration.

Data collection for business planning

The study is helpful for gathering data in order to analyse the business of health and social care home and developing business planning further so that it would be possible to reallocate the resources and fulfil the organisational aims and objectives. In this regard, the secondary data collection method is effective, where it is possible to collect the secondary sources of information such as books, journals, online articles and apart from that the business letters and health and social care journals are effective to gather the secondary sources of information. The secondary sources of information are effective in this study, where the concept and strategies of integrated working practice can be improved well. The researcher can gather a vast range of knowledge related to the integrated working practice and the secondary data are effective to develop strategies for promoting integrated working practice in the workplace of the care home. Additionally, there are some primary data about the revenue generation and cost of the treatment in the care home, which are beneficial to develop the planning for the care home, so that it would be able to identify the expected return on investment in the institution (Clark et al., 2016). Hereby, both the primary and secondary data and information are effective in this study to analyse the business activities of promoting integrated working practice and developing appropriate business planning for the care home.

Necessity of working with partners and stakeholders

Effective engagement with the stakeholders in the health and social care context provides a scope to achieve the organisational success and make the health and social care system sustainable in near future. The health and social care organisations need to involve all the stakeholders with the organisational process and system of work to deliver high quality care and treatment to all the patients across different social communities. The major external stakeholders of the health and social care home are social communities, government, patients and the individuals (Timmermans and Meyer, 2019). On the other hand, the major internal stakeholders of the care home are staff, clinical experts, doctors, nurses and other social workers who are working efficiently to serve the patients in a better and unique way and also there are medical distributors, suppliers and social workers who play crucial role in involving the social communities and improve medication of the patients successfully. Involving all the stakeholders and the partners including the shareholders of the care home are necessary in this context to empower them in the organisational decision making practice and develop effective organisational strategic planning for future. In this regard, the involvement with the entire stakeholder and the partners are beneficial to enhance internal and external communication and it further provides a scope to develop partnership working practice. the care home needs top involve all the stakeholders of the health and social care system in order to improve their participation and enhance their productivity so that all the members can contribute positively in maximising patient’s values, which s the major aim of the care home (Savic et al., 2017).

Engaging the partners is beneficial for developing effective leadership style, where the leaders try to understand the perspective of the partners and the shareholders and try to be collaborative to make effective decision for the benefits of the organisations. Business modelling and shared experience are important to develop creative solutions for the care home and involvement with all the stakeholders is effective to gather different views and opinion of different stakeholders which in turn helps to develop efficient decision for maximising the organisational aims and objectives. in the health and social care context, involvement of all the stakeholders are effective to maximise the organisational aim where the stakeholders are collaboratively providing efficient treatment and quality car to all he individuals through which it is possible for the care home to create values of the patients and support them to stay healthily (Miller and Stein, 2018). Managing disputes and maintaining the internal workplace with harmony and cultural diversity are also possible where all the stakeholders can share their experience and they can contribute positively to achieve the organisational success. Cross stakeholders involvement is also effective of the organisations to improve problem solving and creative decision making practice where the stakeholder’s opinion will be advantageous to develop effective decision for maximising patient’s values by delivering high quality treatment and care.

Advantages of user engagement

Engaging the service users while developing suitable planning of the health and social care service is necessary for the service providers to improve relationship and trust with the individuals or the patients. In this regard, the patient’s involvement is mandatory for the service professionals to identify and acknowledge the actual health issues and personal preferences of the patients while receiving treatment and care. In addition to this, patient involvement is effective for successful patient diagnosis and assessment, where the health care professionals can communicate with the individuals successfully. Better communication further enhances the chance to collaborate with the patient and develop strong bonding and relationship at the care home (Jones et al., 2017). In this regard, the patients can feel free and safe to discuss over their issues as well as the care professionals also can empower the patients to diagnose them properly and identify their difficulties. Open conversation with the patients can be possible where the care professionals can improve trust and loyalty towards the individuals and this in turn helps the care givers to treat the patient with care and continuous support. Improving boding and open communication and collaboration further helps to improve the quality of treatment where the major aim of the service providers is to maximise the satisfaction of the patients.

Accessing right information, reduction of spending too much time on treatment and first aid care, improved the user experience and reduce the clinical risk, are also there benefits of engaging the service users in the health care system, where the service providers are able to maximise the experience of the users and give them an opportunities to live a normal life by reducing their difficulties. On the other hand, fulfilling the patient wishes, supporting the health and social carte objectives and reduction of unnecessary attendances and improving urgent and emergency interventions are possible under proper empowerment of the patients successfully. Through patient involvement, it is also possible for the service providers to maximise outcome and experience for the service users where the patients can receive better care and treatment according to their health issues and personal preferences. The service professionals would have the opportunity to diagnose the patients properly by open communication, where the individuals can share their health issues and difficulties successfully (Amador et al., 2016). This further helps the service users to be empowered in developing the care plan and it is also possible for the patients to maximise their experience and get better care and quality treatment in the health and social care.

Business planning

The care home needs to develop effective business planning for upcoming five years, in order to expand the care home and serve a huge range of social communities across the country. Budget plan and identifying he expected revenue are effective for the care home, through which it is possible for the health and social care institution to reallocate the resources and invest more on the research and development of the company. As per the five year planning, the total spending of the care home is 2 million pound, which is fixed.

Total spending of the care home is 2000000 pound and the variable cost for providing the best possible care and treatment over the five year span is assumed to be 1000000 pound. Hence, the total expenditure of the care home is approximately 3000000 pound.

Total income of the care home is (300000+600000+1200000+1800000+240000) = 6300000 pound

Total net revenue of the care home after five years will be (6300000-3000000) = 3300000 pound.

As per the data, the service users is increasing over the years and it is expected to rise at a rapid rate, where in the first year, there is 300 local residents, in the second and third year it will be 500 and 800 respectively. As well as, it is expected that, there will be 1000 and 1200 residents who will need proper heath and social care service to maximise their wellbeing and stay healthily. In this regard, the cost of the health and social care treatment is also increasing as there would be latest equipment and machineries to treat the individuals and apart from that, there would be experienced and clinical staffs who try to handle the patient with quality care and continuous support. According to the spending of the organisation, the cost of the organisation will also be increasing over the years. Hereby, it is assumed that, the costs will be 1000, 1200, 1500, 1800 and 2000 pound in the country for the quality care and efficient social service respectively in the year 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. In this regard, the total income of the care home over the five years would be approximately 6300000 pound, while the spending of the care home is 3000000 due to latest technology and quality treatment. Hereby, the net income of the care home would be 3300000 pound over the five years. the care home will e profitable, where it needs to focus on latest machineries and equipment to develop the organisational infrastructure and recruit the clinical staff and experienced employees who can manage the patient well and deliver high quality treatment and care to all the social communities. In this regard, the leader of the care home needs to focus on the health care professionals and support them efficiently as the professionals are the major stakeholders to create values and maximise satisfaction of the individuals and in this regard, the leader needs to develop integrated working practice in the organisational workplace, so that all the individuals can perform better and manage their responsibilities efficiently.

Conclusion and recommendations

It can be concluded that, integrated working practice in the health and social care context is effective for the organisations to develop partnership working, where the health care professionals can collaborate and communicate with each other and improve their performance well. In addition to this, the strategic planning of managing professionals code of conduct, implementing the policies and practice of cooperative working in the workplace, are effective to develop integrated working practice where the heath care professionals can share their experience and perform efficiently in long run to maximise the patient’s care. In this regard, it is the responsibility of the care home to develop proper mission and vision as well as share the responsibilities with each for better performance. In this regard, the health care home needs to improve partnership working practice at the workplace by encouraging the staff to develop effected team and work as a team for better treatment of the patients. Additionally, the care home needs to manage transparency and accountability at the workplace and arrange group discussion and on the job training for developing integrated working practice. Continuous support to each other and encouraging the employees for partnership working are effective for the care home to develop effective strategy cooperatively to treat the patients efficiently.

In this regard, the organisation also needs to reallocate the resources and implement Information and Communicate Technology (ICT) for enhancing internal and external communication. For developing integrated working practice, it is necessary of the leader and health care manager to be support and support and direct the team members for more cooperation and communication, so that they can develop bonding at the workplace and improve partnership working practice. Mutual understanding and shared vision are also effective planning where it is possible for the health care professionals to improve integrated working practice and share their responsibilities at the care home. In addition to this, for developing integrated working practice, the leader must be supportive and cooperative where every member can be empowered well in the organisation and share their opinion and strategy to improve performance of the organisation as a whole. It is also beneficial for the organisation to empower the social workers so that they can provide quality care to the social communities as a whole. The care home needs to reallocate the resources and empower all the stakeholders in the organisational practice. Open conversation and enhancing collaboration are also effective for the care home to develop the practice of integrated work where the health care professionals can develop teamwork and maximise patient satisfaction by delivering quality care and continuous support.

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