Lessons from the past – learning for the future: Social work in primary health care

Abstract

There has been an upsurge in interest in social work in primary health care, arising initially from the implementation of community care and – more recently – from the introduction of Primary Care Groups. Although there were numerous examples of social work attachments to primary health care through the 1960s and 1970s, and a substantial literature on the subject, there is a danger that the learning from earlier research fails adequately to inform current policy and practice. Social workers have the potential to perform “diagnostic”, “liaison” and “therapeutic” functions within primary health settings and all of these are valued highly by health services staff. Given the development of Primary Care Groups, this article argues that social workers need to demonstrate greater clarity about their roles in order to function effectively in the new multi-disciplinary climate that is developing