Partnership working and improved service delivery: views of staff providing sexual health services.

OBJECTIVES: Successful partnership working has theoretically been linked to improvements in service delivery and is dependent on the strength of the partnership, trust, communication, professional roles and resource sharing. Empirical evidence to confirm the relationships between these factors and improved service provision, however, is lacking. Our aim was to assess the views of staff as to the conditions required for partnership working. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey of 687 staff offering sexual health education, information or support to young people in the Healthy Respect intervention area in Scotland. Views of each variable were scored and structural equation modelling was used to assess the theoretical model. RESULTS: Responses were received from 284 (41%) staff. Greater strength of partnership was directly associated with increasing the number of referrals. Establishing professional roles between organizations was also associated with increasing the number of referrals. Strength of partnership was indirectly associated with working more effectively with young people and this relationship depended on clear communication, trust, established professional roles and shared resources. Effective partnership working depends on a number of interdependent relationships between organizations, which act synergistically to improve organizational outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Effective partnership working leads to improved service delivery though there is a need for better controlled studies which demonstrate the effect on health outcomes.

Peer supervision: an experimental scheme for nurse lecturers.

This paper reports on the implementation of a scheme of peer supervision in a team of mental health nursing lecturers working within a university setting. The rationale for the introduction of this scheme was the implementation of clinical supervision in nursing nationally and the role nurse education can play in this. Supervision is advocated as a way of providing education, support and quality checks for lecturers involved in supervising students. The peer supervision scheme is described and the experience of the lecturers involved discussed. The authors stress the value of this innovation to their professional lives and promote it as a good way of contributing to the implementation of clinical supervision in mental health nursing.