Shifting organisational solidarity in health and social care ecosystems

Abstract

Care delivery will increasingly become a shared outcome of the deployment of multiple actors, including patients, care professionals, care organisations and networks. We argue that this evolution requires a shift in organisational solidarity, which will need to be stretched across the borders of single care organisations and individual care providers. Organisational solidarity traditionally refers to people working within organisations. We introduce the concept of ‘care ecosystem’ to refer to the constellation of diverse actors who are involved in new forms of care delivery, across organisational boundaries. Based on an analysis of 15 cases of care ecosystem design, we conclude that an ecosystem approach contributes to shift and widen the scope of organisational solidarity across organisational boundaries.