Working in Partnership in Health and Social Care or Children and Young People’s Settings.

1.1Identify features of effective partnership working

Partnership working has been described as a joint working arrangement where the partners all agree to achieve a common goal for the service users despite being independent bodies.
For effective partnership to work they will need to have good communication written and oral, build positive relationships in terms of respect, good rapport and understanding, share information, maintain good regular contact, work together for the needs of the service users and have good working practice.
Partnerships can be formed between a number of individuals, agencies or organisations with a shared interest. There is usually an overarching purpose for partners to work together and a range of specific objectives. Partnerships are often formed to address specific issues and may be short or long term.
In order to achieve a co-ordinated service partners need to:
• Communicate
• Co-ordinate
• Co-operate
Some of the features that emerged in the literature in relation to partnership are:
• Trust in partners
• Respect for partners
• Joint working
• Teamwork
• Eliminating boundaries
• Being an ally
A large body of experience and research provides clear evidence about many of the key determinants of successful partnerships. The focus is to achieve better outcomes through improved service delivery. Partnership working has come a long way in recent years. There is now a consensus that effective partnership working is essential in order to design, develop and deliver personal services for those requiring support and assistance to optimise their independence and happiness. The most important features of an effective partnership are engaging the right people and ensuring they function as a genuine team.
To achieve this requires:

➢ A balanced team: Partnerships need to consist of a balanced team involving all relevant bodies. The team needs to have good leaders who can understand the complexities of group working, build up...