Assessment of the structures and functions of Fife core dementia teams

A research partnership was formed between Fife Regional Council's Social Work Department, Fife Health Board and the Dementia Services Development Centre and Social Work Research Centre of Stirling University, to investigate the multi-disciplinary dementia teams which operate in Fife. The primary method of data collection was a series of group interviews with the six dementia teams: the teams were autonomous coalitions of professionals from various agencies and organizations who met together voluntarily. The informal nature of the teams has permitted them to operate without a defined set of purposes or objectives, enabling the participants to work together with a degree of pragmatism according to professional values and agency policies. There was wide agreement within the teams that the coordination of multi-agency services to clients was much improved and inter-personal relations between different professionals had become much better developed since the operation of teams.