Interprofessional standards for the care sector—history and challenges

Abstract

During 1995-1997, a major interprofessional development programme took place across the UK to develop national occupational standards for professional activity in health promotion and care. National occupational standards specify from the perspective of service users what needs to be achieved in the delivery of high quality services irrespective of setting and no matter who is involved. The aim of the work was to develop standards of high quality which had meaning across all of the practitioner groups to whom they applied. The processes used to develop the standards were collaborative across agencies and professions—-from the initial planning of the work, through its development and consultation phases, to the current testing during implementation. This paper locates the developments within the interprofessional context and provides an insight to the processes. the stakeholders and the challenges. It also looks forward to how the standards are likely to be implemented and evaluated.