The role of emergency duty teams in contemporary social work: issues of practice management and culture

Abstract

Emergency Duty Teams have been introduced into social services and social work departments throughout the previous two decades and are now recognised as an appropriate means of providing a field social work service "out of hours”. This thesis explores the manner whereby EDTs became an established part of local authority social work organisations placing them in some historical context. The thesis then explores contemporary issues of social work practice, supervision and training and attempts to weigh both the merits and potential difficulties of EDTs remaining as the last bastions of generic social work. The thesis explores the relationship between EDTs and their wider organisation and uses the concept of organisational culture as a means of trying to understand some of the paradoxes and stresses to which EDT workers frequently refer. The thesis then identifies and explores some of the contemporary issues which may well have influence upon the contemporary role and task of EDT, ranging from the macro issues of Europeanisation to micro issues of purchaser/provider split. The thesis concludes by cautiously attempting to predict the manner in which an out of hours social work service is likely to be made available both to individual service users and to organisations.