Author: Glasby J, Peck E
Journal: Care Services Improvement Partnership/Integrated Care Network, 2006
Volume/pages: Available from the CSIP/Integrated Care Network

About the study
This discussion paper summarises a range of academic literature and fundamental tensions between policy and practice that exist in inter-agency partnership specifically in the context of governance arrangements.

Findings
The authors argue for the need to be clear whether the partnership is a hierarchy, market or network as each form requires a different form of governance. They suggest that a way forward for partnerships is to agree on the type of relationship they have, the behaviours that this entails, the language used to describe the relationship and how the partnership may evolve over time. They also recommend that the relationship between the NHS and local government is becoming more and more important with the 2006 reconfiguration of PCTs and that the debate needs to look beyond the nature of specific relationships to this broader relationship.

Key messages

• As the nature of a specific partnership changes its governance needs will also change.
• The NHS and local government need each other now more than ever.