Developing Teamwork in Primary Health Care

The greater emphasis now placed on health promotion and prevention of illness, the pressure to be more accountable and provide better value for money, and the continuing advances in information technology, are just some of the fundamental changes pointing to the need for effective teamwork at the level of primary health care and general practice. Already there are a number of initiatives to promote teamwork, mostly in the form of workshops involving more than one team. In contrast, this workbook presents a programme of learning and practical exercises that can be undertaken within each practice, with little or no outside help. The structure calls for all the professional members of the team to work on team development in 13 weekly sessions of about one hour, with some additional reading time and homework. The emphasis is always on the key issues and tasks facing each team. Talking about teamwork is not enough: it must be worked at if it is to be effective. The authors are a general practitioner who has worked on team development for a number of years, and a management consultant who brings practical experience of teamwork and training from the fields of industry and sport.