Partnerships between health and social services: developing a framework for evaluation

Partnerships are a keystone of current policies to 'modernise' health and social services. This presents new challenges for research and evaluation. 'Partnership' is a vague concept, capable of many interpretations, and its evaluation is therefore problematic,not only for those involved in partnerships but for academics and others with a wider interest in public policy, its governance and mechanisms for delivering services. This article argues that a pluralistic approach to evaluation is appropriate. Drawing on examples of health and social services partnerships, the article sets out a number of key criteria against which new partnerships can be evaluated.