Connected Health and Social Care Communities

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In the context of service integration and development, communities in Health and Social Care require interrogation: analysis enables identification of community in relation to governance, professional practice and user/citizen constituencies. Knowledge, understandings and identities within different communities need recognition if cross-community engagement and development work is to be undertaken; those who themselves cross communities or identify with multiple health and social care communities may be valuable 'connectors', in either formal or informal roles. In contrast to predominant theories in organisational studies (e.g. functionalist; social learning), humanities offers the lens of virtue ethics with which to examine connectedness in communities and change over time. Workshop activity found that whilst policy can be disruptive of pre-existing communities in health and social care, communities can respond, to affirm their purpose and seek joint understandings of purpose with others. Future research should explore how communities in health and social care respond to changing circumstances, and what factors influence whether community forms and capacity are enabled or threatened by policy and practice developments.