The Health Services Management Centre at the University of Birmingham reports on what makes partnerships between NHS organizations and the wider healthcare system successful by exploring five case studies in NHS that reflect the varying types of partnerships with a range of starting points, scale and maturity. The researchers find that gathering meaningful data is a major problem to understanding partnerships' impact and identifying how to further improve quality. The report highlights that partnering across clinical, institutional and geographical boundaries has the potential to maintain and improve quality at a time of substantial financial pressures and demographic change. Given the commitment of time and resources involved, the authors write that informed decision making on entering into a partnership of any kind is vital. Different types of partnerships can make a positive contribution to improved quality. They conclude that partnering has potential benefits that aren't easy or quick to achieve. To have a meaningful impact on the quality of care, the right form of partnering needs to be used in the right context and it needs to be accompanied by the right set of enabling factors, they write. According to the report, ingredients for a successful partnership include:
- Leading and managing partnering is different;
- Individual trust will always be key;
- Meaningful data are vital; and
- The environment can make or break partnering.
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