Effective interagency and interprofessional working: facilitators and barriers

In the UK the provision of palliative care is not the sole responsibility of the National Health Service (NHS); there is an overlap with continuing care, which falls within the remit of local authority social services departments. In addition, hospice and palliative care services are often considerably dependent on charities. Interagency and interdisciplinary working are, therefore, central to the successful delivery of palliative care. A multiple (four case) case study design was used to explore the provisions of palliative and continuing care. The analysis identified the antecedents, structures and processes involved in the delivery of interprofessional working, along with the consequences of these in either a good model or one where problems were likely to prevail. Individual activities, roles and specific service configurations seemed far less significant than the overall culture, stability and long-term commitment to a service in a given area. Time is required for new service configurations to stabilize so that staff are able to overcome barriers and develop the necessary facilitators for quality care provision.