Benecia Rodrigues
M5 Assess the benefits of multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working for specific individuals with care and
support needs
D4 Evaluate how multi agency and multidisciplinary working can meet the care and support needs of specific
individuals
In this assignment I will be assessing the benefits of the multidisciplinary and multi agencies for Billy
and Valerie and how they are able to provide care and support needs. I will further evaluate how
multidisciplinary and multi agencies working can meet the care and support needs of Billy and
Valerie.
Care Study 1: Valerie B. aged 24 years
Valerie B. was admitted to the community hospital, following surgery for her appendix which burst
before she could reach hospital. Valerie has mental health problems which began when her parents
died when she was six years old. Valerie’s surgery was complicated due to her being obese. She has
low self-esteem and cannot see why she needs to lose weight or change her lifestyle. Valerie lives in
flat provided by a housing association, but has been bullied by local teenagers because of her obesity.
Valerie’s surgical wound is healing, but she does not want to go home because she is afraid that the
bullying will start again. She is unemployed and receives Universal benefit. Valerie has a hearing
impairment but has never been assessed for any support to improve her hearing. Valerie is a
vegetarian.
Case study 4: Billy G. aged 18 years
Billy is homeless and was admitted to the community hospital by a passing paramedic, when he had
an asthma attack in the street. The city hospital did not have beds and so a place was found in the
community hospital. Billy left home following an argument with his mother’s partner, which resulted
in a violent fight between Billy and the man. He has been living on the streets since this incident. The
weather is cold and damp which contributed to the asthma attack. Billy has a visual impairment and
finds street living difficult. He cannot clearly read road signs or find his way around the city easily.
Billy has complained about stomach pains since being admitted to hospital, which could be due to
him living mainly on food from rubbish bins, thrown out by local restaurants. Billy cannot go back
home from hospital, because his mother has changed the locks and has refused to visit him.
A multi-disciplinary team is a combination of different specialists who work together to meet an
individual's specific needs. They are experts in their field and they have different roles and
responsibilities in order to help individuals when facing complex situations such as taking
medication1. They apply a holistic approach, meaning they provide support to individual’s mental,
emotional, social, spiritual wellbeing and physical needs2. Multi Agencies consist of two or more
agencies involved. These personalised services work together in order to support an individual with
their specific needs. Different service users will have different disabilities therefore they will require
different care and servicers meaning there will be an involvement of different services depending on
their conditions, disabilities and needs. The multidisciplinary team and multi agencies will apply the
1 Ebook
2https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/mentalhealth/psychosocial/principles/Pages/holistic.aspx#:~:text=A%20holistic%20approach%20means%20to,emotional%2C%20social%20and
%20spiritual%20wellbeing.
, Benecia Rodrigues
M5 Assess the benefits of multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working for specific individuals with care and
support needs
D4 Evaluate how multi agency and multidisciplinary working can meet the care and support needs of specific
individuals
person centred approach where service users would be placed at the centre of the service and
treated as a person first. The service providers will focus on the service user and what they can do
and not do due to their condition or disability. The support that is delivered focuses on achieving
the person’s aspiration and being tailored to their needs and unique circumstances 3. Effective multi-
disciplinary working will allow Billy and Valerie to get a better service and better outcomes from the
service provider. This is possible because the team takes a holistic approach to providing care,
looking at all their needs and how they can be met4.
Valerie is 24 years old and recently had appendix surgery. Valerie’s surgery was complicated due to
her being obese. She also has mental health problems which began when her parents passed away
when she was six years. She has low self-esteem and cannot see why she needs to lose weight or
change her lifestyle. Valerie is being bullied by local tennagers which creates fear within her as it is
evident that she doesn't want to go home. Furthermore, Valerie has a hearing impairment which has
never been assessed for any support to improve her hearing. Valerie’s multidisciplinary team would
involve a Practitioner, Internists, District nurse, Diabetic nurse, Mental health nurse, Psychiatrists or
Psychologists, Social worker, Housing officer, Councillor, Nutritionist or Dietitian, Fitness instructor
and a Hearing impairment or Audiologist.
Valerie’s condition would benefit through the help of a Practitioner as the specialist would diagnose
her condition and involve other specialists in her case in order to allow her to get all the support
she requires and be able to meet her specific needs. The Partitioner would also provide her
preventive care in order to prevent any further health conditions. If Valerie is not diagnosed by a
partitioner then she would not be able to review or discuss her treatment, she would also not be
able to receive the help she requires therefore resulting in further health complications leading to
death or being more dependent on others.
The involvement of a Partitioner would be very affected towards Valerie’s case as without this she
may have not been able to start her treatment therefore making her condition worse as well as her
quality of life. As Velerie has a burst appendix a General surgeon would also be involved in her
treatment as the specialist would perform a surgery in order to remove the burst appendix to
reduce any belly infection such as peritonitis. Having this specialist involved in her multidisciplinary
team would benefit her as doing this surgery would avoid the risk of death. However, if Valerie
doesn't get help from this specialist then the consequences of not removing her burst appendix
would be life threatening resulting in more complications and eventually being more dependent on
others or resulting in early death. A General surgeon is very important in Valerie’s case as the
3https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/mentalhealth/psychosocial/principles/Pages/person-centred.aspx#:~:text=A%20person%2Dcentred
%20approach%20is,their%20needs%20and%20unique%20circumstances.
4 Ebook
M5 Assess the benefits of multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working for specific individuals with care and
support needs
D4 Evaluate how multi agency and multidisciplinary working can meet the care and support needs of specific
individuals
In this assignment I will be assessing the benefits of the multidisciplinary and multi agencies for Billy
and Valerie and how they are able to provide care and support needs. I will further evaluate how
multidisciplinary and multi agencies working can meet the care and support needs of Billy and
Valerie.
Care Study 1: Valerie B. aged 24 years
Valerie B. was admitted to the community hospital, following surgery for her appendix which burst
before she could reach hospital. Valerie has mental health problems which began when her parents
died when she was six years old. Valerie’s surgery was complicated due to her being obese. She has
low self-esteem and cannot see why she needs to lose weight or change her lifestyle. Valerie lives in
flat provided by a housing association, but has been bullied by local teenagers because of her obesity.
Valerie’s surgical wound is healing, but she does not want to go home because she is afraid that the
bullying will start again. She is unemployed and receives Universal benefit. Valerie has a hearing
impairment but has never been assessed for any support to improve her hearing. Valerie is a
vegetarian.
Case study 4: Billy G. aged 18 years
Billy is homeless and was admitted to the community hospital by a passing paramedic, when he had
an asthma attack in the street. The city hospital did not have beds and so a place was found in the
community hospital. Billy left home following an argument with his mother’s partner, which resulted
in a violent fight between Billy and the man. He has been living on the streets since this incident. The
weather is cold and damp which contributed to the asthma attack. Billy has a visual impairment and
finds street living difficult. He cannot clearly read road signs or find his way around the city easily.
Billy has complained about stomach pains since being admitted to hospital, which could be due to
him living mainly on food from rubbish bins, thrown out by local restaurants. Billy cannot go back
home from hospital, because his mother has changed the locks and has refused to visit him.
A multi-disciplinary team is a combination of different specialists who work together to meet an
individual's specific needs. They are experts in their field and they have different roles and
responsibilities in order to help individuals when facing complex situations such as taking
medication1. They apply a holistic approach, meaning they provide support to individual’s mental,
emotional, social, spiritual wellbeing and physical needs2. Multi Agencies consist of two or more
agencies involved. These personalised services work together in order to support an individual with
their specific needs. Different service users will have different disabilities therefore they will require
different care and servicers meaning there will be an involvement of different services depending on
their conditions, disabilities and needs. The multidisciplinary team and multi agencies will apply the
1 Ebook
2https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/mentalhealth/psychosocial/principles/Pages/holistic.aspx#:~:text=A%20holistic%20approach%20means%20to,emotional%2C%20social%20and
%20spiritual%20wellbeing.
, Benecia Rodrigues
M5 Assess the benefits of multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working for specific individuals with care and
support needs
D4 Evaluate how multi agency and multidisciplinary working can meet the care and support needs of specific
individuals
person centred approach where service users would be placed at the centre of the service and
treated as a person first. The service providers will focus on the service user and what they can do
and not do due to their condition or disability. The support that is delivered focuses on achieving
the person’s aspiration and being tailored to their needs and unique circumstances 3. Effective multi-
disciplinary working will allow Billy and Valerie to get a better service and better outcomes from the
service provider. This is possible because the team takes a holistic approach to providing care,
looking at all their needs and how they can be met4.
Valerie is 24 years old and recently had appendix surgery. Valerie’s surgery was complicated due to
her being obese. She also has mental health problems which began when her parents passed away
when she was six years. She has low self-esteem and cannot see why she needs to lose weight or
change her lifestyle. Valerie is being bullied by local tennagers which creates fear within her as it is
evident that she doesn't want to go home. Furthermore, Valerie has a hearing impairment which has
never been assessed for any support to improve her hearing. Valerie’s multidisciplinary team would
involve a Practitioner, Internists, District nurse, Diabetic nurse, Mental health nurse, Psychiatrists or
Psychologists, Social worker, Housing officer, Councillor, Nutritionist or Dietitian, Fitness instructor
and a Hearing impairment or Audiologist.
Valerie’s condition would benefit through the help of a Practitioner as the specialist would diagnose
her condition and involve other specialists in her case in order to allow her to get all the support
she requires and be able to meet her specific needs. The Partitioner would also provide her
preventive care in order to prevent any further health conditions. If Valerie is not diagnosed by a
partitioner then she would not be able to review or discuss her treatment, she would also not be
able to receive the help she requires therefore resulting in further health complications leading to
death or being more dependent on others.
The involvement of a Partitioner would be very affected towards Valerie’s case as without this she
may have not been able to start her treatment therefore making her condition worse as well as her
quality of life. As Velerie has a burst appendix a General surgeon would also be involved in her
treatment as the specialist would perform a surgery in order to remove the burst appendix to
reduce any belly infection such as peritonitis. Having this specialist involved in her multidisciplinary
team would benefit her as doing this surgery would avoid the risk of death. However, if Valerie
doesn't get help from this specialist then the consequences of not removing her burst appendix
would be life threatening resulting in more complications and eventually being more dependent on
others or resulting in early death. A General surgeon is very important in Valerie’s case as the
3https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/mentalhealth/psychosocial/principles/Pages/person-centred.aspx#:~:text=A%20person%2Dcentred
%20approach%20is,their%20needs%20and%20unique%20circumstances.
4 Ebook
