Analysis of teamwork in an NHS community trust: an empirical study

Abstract

The following paper describes the results of an empirical investigation into four different types of teamworking within an inner-city National Health Service (NHS) community trust in the UK. The four kinds of team were: (1) single-disciplinary (e.g. district nursing teams, health visiting teams); (2) multidisciplinary (a group of professionals working within a clinic or health centre); (3) management (e.g. planning and development teams); and (4) primary health care (a group of health professionals and support staff arranged around a general practice or set of practices). The present study involved a survey of 259 members of 30 teams. Nineteen of the teams were multidisciplinary clinic or health centre teams. Six of the teams were primary health care teams, two were single-disciplinary teams, and three were NHS management teams. Team members were surveyed during team building workshops with the Team Climate Inventory (TCI: Anderson & West, 1994) which measured team climate on four levels: participative safety; innovation; task orientation; and team vision. A one-way analysis of variance of the data collected from each of the 30 teams found statistically significant differences on two out of the four factors of team functioning. The present study uncovered similar findings to those obtained by West & Poulton (1997). The paper discusses the results in light of the UK government's White Paper on the National Health Service The New NHS: Modern, Dependable (Department of Health, 1997) and offers recommendations for resolving difficulties in primary health care teamwork.