Health and Social Care Policy and the Interprofessional ... - CAIPE

The workforce is the most valuable resource in health and social care
however in most Member States its current preparation does not adequately
prepare it for practice. Professionals are viewed as too specialised, oriented
towards disease process rather than health promotion, with their student work
experience focusing the secondary and tertiary sectors rather than primary
health care.
Health 21 explicitly criticises the lack of opportunities to learn to work in
collaboration:
‘Furthermore, the education which different health professionals undergo is
often completely separate, and they do not come together during their
training, so, teamwork is generally not promoted’. Filling the missing gaps it
seems is ‘vital for population based health’ (p128).
Target 18 focuses on developing human resources for health so that the
workforce is fit for practice by equipping it with the knowledge and skills
needed to deliver the Health for All policy. The WHO raises the question of
ethical practice when it calls for ‘close collaboration with professional peers
[as it] is an important element of professional work and needs to be absorbed
more fully into professional ethics’….with the subsequent warning that
‘working alone with no regular exchanges of experience for mutual
improvement can no longer be considered professionally satisfactory’.
Working in a team enables the professions to solve ‘complex health problems
that cannot be adequately dealt with by one profession alone’ (p135).
In a subsequent section of Health 21 the WHO confirms its belief that
achieving Target 18 depends in part, on the ‘education of public health
professionals [that] prepares them to act as enablers, mediators and
advocates for health in all sectors, and to work with a broad set of partners in
society’ (p198).
The WHO while demonstrating their determination for the workforce to learn
and work together more effectively, ‘inspired by respect for human dignity,
professional ethics and solidarity’ also acknowledges that ‘it is important to
recognise that each profession has its special area of competence and that
they need to work together on the basis of mutual respect for each other’s
expertise’ (p137). Such a clear statement from the WHO of recognition of
profession specific competence and expertise should reassure those who
believe their profession is in some way threatened by the concept of an
interprofessional workforce. It is not and never will be. Indeed it could be
argued that interprofessional practice strengthens professional specificity.
The WHO also expressed its views on co-location, which although they
believe is advantageous’ is not the sole criteria for working together rather it
underpins the concept of ‘knowing each other, performing complementary
work, constantly exchanging information and meeting at regular intervals to
facilitate cooperation’ (p137).
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