Conjoint multi-disciplinary assessment in a community mental health team: the impact on the social work role.

Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) offer the opportunity to integrate social workers and health professionals to provide multi-disciplinary assessment and care. This potential for joint working is frequently not fully realised, with the various professions operating independently. Social work staff in CMHTs are reported to experience high levels of role confusion. This study of the introduction of a system of conjoint multi-disciplinary assessment in a Scottish CMHT describes the positive impact on the social work role in terms of greater involvement in front-line assessments to the CMHT and more fully integrated teamwork.