Comisión Reguladora de Energía (CRE) de México D. Milenko Matosic

Effective partnerships require sustained relationships, shared agendas built over time and a commitment to shared problem-solving. The government’s drive to improve public serv- ices is not assisted by rapid change largely imposed from above. This concern with the way partnership has been promoted between health and social care has been highlighted by Jones (2005), who argues that the frequency and pace of change is causing disruption between health and social care partners, echoing Beresford’s concern that partnership between health and social care is being promoted more as an integration of social care into the health service.

Partnership therefore does not mean merger or takeover of one group by another, yet much of the current drive for partnership, particularly within adult care, appears to be moving in this direction. When different professional groupings come together in collabo- ration then they bring with them their own ways of working, organisational cultures and attitudes, their particular practice-experience and their own ethical codes. For profession- als who may feel unsure of their own professional standing this can be threatening as they may feel that their own ethical codes of practice may have to be suspended in order to achieve partnership.

Comment

Social work’s ethical commitment to anti-oppressive practice is clearly challenged by the inappropriate comments made by the police officer. Much has been made of the ‘canteen culture’ which permeates the police force, and evidence suggests that this culture certainly reinforces stereotypical and racist attitudes towards minorities (Macpherson, 1999). The social worker may have met such attitudes before, she may shrug her shoulders and ratio-

126

Aileen is a social worker who works in a Child Protection Unit with police colleagues. Aileen receives a referral to visit a family well known to both social services and the police. She feels that a police officer will be needed to accompany her as the allegations are seri- ous and therefore may require police intervention. She tells Bill her police colleague that they are visiting the family and he responds with ‘Not those bloody gyppos again’.

C A S E S T U DY

7 . 1

How might you respond to such a situation and what do you think is being challenged here?

nalise this as just part of the canteen culture which may not necessarily be discriminatory once the police officer is working alongside the social worker. However, if she does take that line then there are significant issues which she may feel are being lost in order to get along with her partner.

To avoid collusion with this culture, it is clearly in order for the social worker to question her police partner’s attitudes and request he refrain from such language. She may wish to engage him in a discussion about the use of such stereotypical language. She may also suggest that if she does not receive an appropriate response then she will take this further and may consult with her line manager who could make a formal complaint. There is no appropriate way that the social worker can condone such language, and even if it were to be argued that this may undermine partnership working, then the social worker needs to be clear what the point of partnership working is. In other words, it is not to form a work- able relationship with fellow professionals which results in the dilution of the social worker’s value base and the demeaning of service users. The point of partnership working is not to deliver appropriate services to service users only to have them undermined by some partners exhibiting discriminatory attitudes.

Lymbery (2005), in addressing collaborative working between social workers and health professionals, suggests there are key knowledge, values and skills that social workers can bring to inter-professional working. These key attributes are not just appropriate for work between social services and health, but may usefully be a starting point from which social workers can develop security within their own professional role. In addition they can play an effective role within collaboration and joint working with other professionals, Lymbery (2005) suggests, with some additional comments:

1 Social workers’ values and ethical stance are a key element of an inter-professional team as these highlight the real differences between social workers and other professionals. Of value here is the critical role of challenge and questioning of existing practice that can be developed within a multidisciplinary team.

2 Social workers as ‘social’ workers bring with them their expertise and knowledge of the social factors which can influence the behaviour of service users and the operation of the team itself. This holistic approach places the individual within a broader community and social context which other professionals may not share to the same extent. This can be particularly strong in professions which have a narrower remit such as the nursing profession who may in the main operate from a medical model rather than a social model.

127

Garrett (2004) in his study of partnership working between social workers and the police found some social work respondents seemed to accept some aspects of their partner’s racist language in order to prioritise working together over their ethical principles. Garrett argues it requires secure and confident social workers to work in these challenging envi- ronments and to be able then to challenge their partners when required.

3 The administrative role of social workers in coordinating care packages for example may give them a strategic position within partnerships with health. They can operate between the different organisations involved to link together various professions into focusing upon the intervention. This connects in many ways to one of the traditional roles of social workers as enablers of service networks, which can be transferred into multidisciplinary teams.

Given social workers’ potential to operate at more strategic levels it becomes possible to develop interpersonal relationships with other professionals in a way that other members of the team would be unable to do given their narrower service focus. The more privileged position then of social workers has the potential to provide for an effective enabling role in binding the multi-professional team together.