Improving Healthcare Services: A Case Study and Discussion

After completing the module, you should be able to:

1. Discuss the complex factors in a multi-cultural community and how this impacts on the delivery of healthcare.
2. Understand the differing cultural needs of communities in the UK.
3. Evaluate the impact of leadership on a multi-disciplinary team.
4. Appraise the attributes of an effective multi-disciplinary team.

Reshma is a 25yr old woman who immigrated to the UK from Bangladesh with her husband and children. Her children were born in Bangladesh and she recently gave birth to a male child. She had an arranged marriage in Bangladesh before coming to the United Kingdom. The family has struggled financially since they arrived in the UK. They lived in a council house but had no problems with rent because the council pays their rent. The reasons for their financial difficulty were due to recent cuts by the government in family income support benefits and the fact that her husband Ahmed is unable to secure employment. Ahmed and Reshma can speak little or no English, as they both had no formal education before coming to the UK. Because of this, they communicate less effectively with their neighbours and people in the local community.

Ahmed has now lost his confidence because he cannot speak English and always needs an interpreter whenever he goes to see the GP or when he has an appointment at the council. The interpreter service used to be free but the council has stopped paying for the service due to the economic downturn. Ahmed is usually seen in the morning, taking the children to school and going to bring them home. The children are kept indoors, as the neighbourhood they live in is not safe due to young men peddling drugs in the area. Ahmed and Reshma also come from a culture where excess body size or being overweight is seen as a symbol of wealth and prosperity.

Please answer all the following questions

Using both example from your own practice as well as the information from the above case study:

• Evaluate the complex challenges and opportunities of inter-agency working - with particular emphasis on the distinct cultural needs Ahmed and Reshma have to cope with in the UK.

To fully address question 1, consider the following:

1) How your identified challenges would impact on the delivery of effective healthcare services

2) Why do you think Reshma and Ahmed would face barriers while accessing healthcare?

3) What could potentially be the reasons for your identified barriers and how could inter-agency working impact positively on their wellbeing?

In care provision, service users and carers may have complex needs, which may require different types of help being provided by a range of agencies:

• Analyse how lack of good leadership amongst healthcare agencies would impact negatively on Ahmed and Reshma, particularly within the excerpts of the principles of care ethics as well as the multi-disciplinary working initiative in healthcare.
• In reference to the case study above, outline some of the policy issues faced by Ahmed and Reshma, explain what you could have done differently.

Context:

Amongst several other government initiatives, the government issued many policy documents – requiring collaboration to improve efficiency and effectiveness in healthcare services. As the direct result, a white paper “Modernising Social Services” in 1998 clearly stated that, “people do not fit into neat service categories, and that if partner agencies are not working together it is the user who suffers” (DH, 1998 cited in Community Care, 2019).

With the above understanding and in reference to the case study or own experience, evaluate the characteristics of multi-disciplinary teamwork in healthcare.

• Explain how effective multi-disciplinary teams work together in order to increase the chances of meeting Ahmed and Reshma’s family’s identified support needs.