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22
Secondly, it emphasizes the need for teamwork within the
medical profession, within the health service as a whole, and
most importantly within the intricate complex of community
services embracing health, education, welfare, housing and the
protection of the environment. Intimate collaboration between
the health and social services, for example, is indispensable to
the fruitful development of the growth points of health care of
the immediate future — primary medical and nursing care in the
home; mental and/or physical handicap in child and adult; the
mentally ill; the chronically sick; and the aged. The increasing
emphasis on teamwork must of necessity lead to a reappraisal of
the specific roles and thus of the deployment of members of the
healing and caring professions in providing the highest standard
of service practicable, both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Hence the need for careful planning and skilled evaluation; for
smooth organization and purposeful administration; in other
words, for informed and efficient management.
Thirdly, in the twin context of making the most effective use
of the resources available and of fostering the closest collaboration
between interdependent services, it endorses
unreservedly the need for highly trained specialists in community
medicine with attractive career prospects embracing a wide
variety of interests including medical administration. This need—
the major theme of the Report — is examined in depth in relation
to the wise planning and sound operation of health services.
These key objectives cannot be attained without a continuing
review of major fields of activity entailing in turn critical
evaluation of the results achieved; searching assessment of
priorities; and appropriate allocation of the resources available,
in terms of manpower, equipment and accommodation, to meet the
field commitment to the satisfaction of both the individuals
served and the staff engaged in the enterprise. The measurement
of problems and of the success or lack of success in dealing
with them is dependent upon the development of suitable yardsticks
— based on grass roots knowledge — and their subsequent
refinement in the light of experience. Suitable records must be
kept so that the necessary pool of relevant information is
accumulated. Accurate data are essential to progress.
Full participation by all concerned in the field is vital therefore
to the effective planning and operation of services. No large
enterprise can thrive unless the grass roots are continually
nourished. Here the free flow of information is crucial, for
collaboration and communication go hand in hand. Good
communications are of the essence of management. Genuine
teamwork is the prerequisite for effectiveness and efficiency.