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Collaboration. Everyone agrees it’s a good thing. But evaluating it needs care and consideration. It’s more than data, it’s about people and long term shifts in culture and working practices.

Covid-19 has thrown us into the arms of new digital technology like little else before. Video conferencing for appointments is no longer a surprise, and the fact that Covid-19 tests (where available) should be booked online seems completely natural. While no one can deny that the rate of change in digital healthcare has increased, how much of this change is likely to remain with us long term?

If the future is collaboration, where are we now, and how do we bridge the gap? If we’re genuine about the high aspirations we have for primary care networks, integrated care systems, etc, do we know how big a challenge that is?

Ohio. Famous for picking US presidents (28 out of the last 30), and the birthplace of aviation (the Wright brothers grew up here in 1870s). Less famous for being home of a number of the most advanced healthcare networks in the world.

“Making something a reality.” Roll the phrase around. When would you use it? In your personal life, if you’re anything like me, not much. If so, it’s probably something which won’t actually happen. Making daily gym-going a reality. Making my-attachment-to-ebay-less-all-consuming a reality. 

Are you the same person at work as you are at home? Some? A bit perhaps? This might matter to you immensely, or not at all, but almost all of us would see there being some difference between how we think personally and professionally. Sometimes this is helpful (not everyone needs to know about your Panini sticker fascination), but sometimes it’s not.

There’s a lot of us out there, in different industries and sectors, trying to build collaborations, develop new ways of working and change systems that are no longer fit for purpose.  

As the NHS has restructured over the years we have taken professional tribes and overlaid them with organizational tribes – commissioner and provider, hospital and community, physical and mental health, health and social care. Sometimes we recognize this, and we learn to speak each other’s dialect – but all too often we simply adopt a new jargon – the “special words used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand.” And we hold on to our positional power.