This assignment explains the roles and responsibilities of all involved in the multidisciplinary
team working with each.
What is multi-agency working?
Multi-agency working is about providing a seamless response to individuals with multiple
and complex needs. This could be as part of a multidisciplinary team or on an ad hoc basis.
What is multi-disciplinary working?
Multi-disciplinary is the combining or involving of several academic disciplines or
professional specializations in an approach to a topic or problem.
Multidisciplinary teams are made up of people with a variety of professional experiences
and distinct areas of competence. Service users that need the assistance of more than one
type of expert might be served by these teams. The teams have the knowledge and abilities
of many professions to collectively evaluate, arrange, and monitor treatment and care.
Who is involved in the multidisciplinary team?
Psychiatrists, clinical nurse specialists/community mental health nurses, psychologists, social
workers, occupational therapists, medical secretaries, and other specialisations such as
counsellors, therapists, advocacy workers, and care workers should make up a
multidisciplinary team.
Multidisciplinary team member: Responsibilities and roles:
Psychiatrist Perform assessments, provide talking
therapies, prescribe medication, and
investigate for physical illnesses.
Psychologist Provide specialised talking therapies,
perform in-depth assessments of aspects of
brain functioning and behaviour.
Psychiatric Nurse Assess difficulties, provide talking
therapies, administer and monitor
medication.
Occupational Therapist Provide skills assessments, formulate
rehabilitation plan, which is delivered both
individually and in groups.
Social Worker Provide support for families, provide talking
therapies, advice in relation to housing,
finance and supports.
Why do multi-disciplinary teams work together?
• Better service and outcomes for the service user
• Coordinated support
• Specialisms covered
• Efficiency
• Reduce costs
These include improved health outcomes and enhanced satisfaction for clients, and the
more efficient use of resources and enhanced job satisfaction for team members. The
service user should receive a better service because the team can take a more holistic
approach to the individual’s needs.
, Service users are counselled by occupational therapist and social workers in solo or team
meetings to help them manage alcoholism, rehabilitate from an injury or incident, or adapt
to the new life circumstances. They also help clients leave care facilities by planning their
release and offering support and guidance. This links to Alice's case study to a great extent
as she would especially benefit from an occupational therapist as they would be able to help
her manage her alcohol intake and give her the help she requires to overcome it.
Psychiatrists may also work with occupational therapists to provide the service user with
therapy and they can also offer help and guidance to help clients cope with bereavement,
marital or family problems. Alice would benefit to a large extent from having a psychiatrist
as they can support her in regards to the loss of her husband.
Key practice points:
Multi-agencies have agreed to hold one another accountable, to comprehend related
dangers and requirements from all angles, and to assume joint responsibility for assisting
and protecting all parties involved. A dedication to respecting individuals fairly and
respectfully, regardless of their personality, circumstances, or impediments.
- Everyone works together
- Recover faster
- Making sure condition does not worsen
Nusrat:
Nusrat has multiple agencies all working closely together to ensure that she receives the
help she requires to guarantee her epilepsy is under control. She is already seeing a GP who
prescribes her with the correct medication to help her control herself and this GP would
then refer her to an advocate who would make Nusrat a personalised care plan designed
just for her. Every service provider is going out of their way to put their time and resources
into ensuring Nusrat is content. This is beneficial to a great extent for Nusrat as it would
ensure she receives the correct care to manage her epilepsy. For example her advocate
completed a counselling course/training to guarantee they have the skills and attributes to
give their all into helping Nusrat and increase a more positive relationship through clear
communication in order to support her. She has a support worker who may be seen working
closely with the centre manager in order to communicate and support her in case she has
any troubles when she is at the community centre and her mother is not there. The support
worker would have already been in contact with Nusrat’s GP to gain all information that is
required when caring for her and making certain that she does not feel uncomfortable. Their
partnership is to make Nusrat have the confidence in the future to slowly become more
independent and rely on her mother as much. This would work to some extent however,
because people with epilepsy frequently experience changes in their quality of life, such as
decreased mobility, as well as the effects on learning, attendance, employment,
relationships, and social interactions, Nusrat still requires a support worker and specialist
nurse at the moment as they would need to be aware of and monitor any changes in
Nusrat's behaviour and how they can make her feel more at ease but in the future these
service providers may become less frequent to encourage Nusrat to gain more confidence
and be on her own.
Alice:
Multi agencies work closely together to increase Alice’s recovery time after it was affected
so negatively as a result of her stress and depression causing her to drink a lot more alcohol
therefore damaging her liver but also help improve her lifestyle to a large extent. However
