The art of the possible: On the necessary conditions for cross-sector cooperation in a New Public Management oriented health service

Despite the current mantra that cross-sector teamwork and communication are the decisive factors in any attempt at creating an integrated and holistically oriented health service, the current institutional structures and conditions seem to actively stymie such cooperation. A high powered debate on the necessity of properly functioning cross-sector cooperation in the health service proceeds in its own isolated context and is also challenged at its very roots by the New Public Management (NPM) creed that has informed health service management in recent decades. The aim here is to investigate how tension and paradoxes in that cross-sector teamwork impact upon the ability of healthcare professionals across the relevant sectors to work together effectively towards the discharge of a patient. All this with a view to creating an integrated and holistic process for that patient.