Co-designing integrated care for high-needs clients: the Help Team for school-aged children

Journal of Integrated Care,Volume 27, Issue 2, Page 123-130, April 2019. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe a Finnish pilot project aiming to support high-needs clients in their everyday lives by developing an integrated care approach based on the multi-sectoral collaboration of care professionals. The Help Team for school-aged children will be described as an example of the integrative practices developed on the project. Design/methodology/approach Altogether 250 professionals from primary and secondary health care and social care and from the education sector were designated to collaborate in 37 local, multi-sectoral teams, aiming to develop integrated care practices for high-needs clients. Teamwork was supported by coaches and project seminars, the Breakthrough method and other LEAN methods. The project was evaluated internally by means of a survey and interviews with the participants. Findings As a result of the project, all 37 teams developed a specific collaboration model for their selected target group comprising different kinds of high-needs clients. Research limitations/implications The sustainability of the outcomes of the project depends on how managers and decision-makers are committed to applying the collaboration models in future. Practical implications Many of the collaboration models developed in the project will be implemented in practice in a wider area. Social implications The project highlighted the need to pay attention to the problems...
Source: Journal of Integrated Care - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research