Relationality: Strengthening health and social care collaboration through the power of relationships

Hong Kong faces one of its greatest challenges in meeting the needs of an ageing population. This has created great demand for health and social care systems. Meeting the complex needs of older people requires effective collaboration between health and social care professionals within interdisciplinary teams. In Hong Kong, some community-based care serviceshave adopted a multidisciplinary approach to support older people to ensure ageing in place. Although the development of interdisciplinary collaboration between health and social care has increased in recent years, it is still at an early stage in Hong Kong. Some health and social care professionals experience difficulties with interdisciplinary collaboration. Such collaboration has proved ineffective when communication barriers, incompatible professional cultures and institutional barriers prevent interdisciplinary collaboration.