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On 7 February 2005, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) published research (New forms of professional knowledge and practice in multi-agency services) which finds that making effective the multi-agency teamwork approach to modernising government is a complex challenge, and training to make it work in delivering children's services, must be planned and funded.
The research finds confusion between the concepts of multi-disciplinary and multi-agency work. It identifies lack of training in effective management of multi-agency teams and managing change as two key issues which must be addressed.
Researchers investigated five multi-agency teams operating in children's services in England, covering youth crime, mental health, special needs provision for under-fives, neuro-rehabilitation and assessment of child development. Agencies and specialists involved included police, court workers, psychologists, social services, probationary, voluntary sector, education and health professionals.
The study found that heavy demands are made on the professionals involved in implementing multi-agency teamwork in terms of their need to rethink their roles and switch to different kinds of activities and working practices. A main focus of this new way of working is the sharing with others of information perhaps previously restricted to those in a particular specialist field, with an expert understanding of its language and practices. Attempting to share information more widely may create anxiety and conflict and affect the way teams work together - setting for instance, medical versus social work; education versus care.
A summary can be viewed on the ESRC website