‘Uncharted territory’: the experiences of health and social care practitioners in a multi-agency collaboration to support integrated service provision for children and young people in a disadvantaged community

This paper explores an Australian place-based collaboration of ten agencies to reform the delivery of integrated health and social care services to children and families with complex health and social challenges. Data comprises interview transcripts of semi-structured individual interviews with 17 employees across the six most-engaged agencies in late 2022. Employing thematic analysis, we found that whilst there was agreement on the vision of creative, trust-based collaboration to drive, implement and scale up service delivery reform, points of tension highlighted complexities that acted contrary to this vision. These tensions suggest the need to clarify the governance role of the collaboration, attend to project maturation processes, revise the strategic direction as collaborations evolve, maintain communication and agency involvement, and continue to listen to consumer and clinician voices. We conclude that, in a complex service system environment, it is crucial to maintain and review a shared vision, clear strategies and a healthy collaborative environment. These conclusions may inform other interagency collaborations and policies with the goal of integrating health and social care.