Context matters: general practice and social work – the Birmingham story

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the approach adopted to building relationships between health and social care in Birmingham. Design/methodology/approach – This is a practical case study, reflecting on personal experience of being directly involved in the situations and discussions described. It supplements a 2012 paper (Lotinga and Glasby, 2012) on the creation of Birmingham’s Health and Well-being Board. Findings – Local history and context is crucial in shaping the nature of local joint working initiatives – understanding where local services have come from and why they have made the choices they have is a crucial pre-requisite for understanding current and future opportunities. Research limitations/implications – This paper aims to place joint working between general practice and social work in a broader organisational, financial and policy setting – and placing local developments in this wider context is crucial for understanding barriers and opportunities locally. Originality/value – In the absence of a detailed evidence base, front-line practice is often far ahead of the current research evidence. This means that local case studies like this are crucial in terms of sharing learning with other areas of the country, with policy makers and with researchers. While many case studies of joint working are small in nature, Birmingham is the largest local authority in Europe – so this paper also contributes learning based on trying to develop joint working in very large, complex authorities.