Partnerships between health and social care under ‘New Labour’: smoke without fire? A review of policy and evidence

Abstract

English Since coming to power in 1997, the New Labour government has placed heavy emphasis on partnerships – between organisations, services and professionals – as the preferred means of delivering coordinated health and social care services. This article aims to provide a critical overview and synthesis of both the discourse and the practice associated with this policy imperative. First, it summarises the range of policies that have promoted health and social care partnerships since 1997. It then discusses the definitions and rationales that have been proposed for these partnerships and some of the challenges involved in evaluating their ‘success’. This is followed by a critical examination of the available evidence for the ‘success’ of recent partnerships between the health and social care sectors. The article concludes with some reflections on the evidence that partnerships constitute either an effective method of service planning and delivery or a distinctive ‘Third Way’ mode of governance in relation to these particular public sector services.