Organizational Issues in Health and Social Care Services

“People do not care about organizational boundaries when seeking support or help and expect services to reflect this. From Our Health, Our Care Our Say (DoH 2006)”

Introduction

Since the introduction of the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act it is no longer an option for human services and public sector organizations to work in isolation. Handy (1997,p.18) has argued against the introduction of market principles into areas that are generally regarded as the responsibility of the state welfare system, because this could harm those who most needed the help. This merging of human services with public sector organisations has meant that an increasing number of human service workers are employed in the private sector. Human Service organisations are comprised of medical staff and others such as administrators, cooks and cleaners employed by the NHS or in private practice, the police and probation services, the prison services, social services, and to a limited extent those working in education. This assignment will look at some of the effects of current policies on the organisational structures of health/social care and partner organisations. There will be an examination of issues of power and inequality in organisations and an exploration of the notion of partnership working. The success of such policies will be explored through the experiences of people with mental health problems. Partnership working is most especially relevant to people with mental health problems and the Government has promised greater concentration on this in the White Paper that came out this year, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say.Organizational Issues in Health and Social Care Services. ^[1]