AbstractAn exploratory research study in one district health authority demonstrates the significant impact of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 on hospital‐based social workers. Their work is overwhelmingly concerned with the discharge planning process, in which they have developed patterns of collaboration with a range of other professional groups while retaining a specific commitment to the interests of the patient and carers. The social workers interviewed differ in the degree to which they feel a sense of corporate identity with the hospital and the healthcare system. The study identifies five practice elements in the social worker's range of responsibilities: interdisciplinary collaboration, assessment, providing a link between hospital and community, networking and negotiation, and the use of financial acumen. Two areas of debate and dissonance are identified: counselling is not now something that looms large in the social worker's daily round; while the defence of patient rights sometimes involved the social worker in conflicting relationships with other professional group
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