A new evaluation tool will be launched by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) today to help those working in partnership across government departments and their agencies and with the community, voluntary and business sectors and trade unions.
The Partnership Evaluation Tool (PET) will help in monitoring development, assess emerging benefits and identify areas for further development.
The event entitled ‘The Benefits of Partnership’ will also include the launch of three documents, available from www.partnershiptool.ie on partnership working including:
- Partnerships: a literature review
- Partnerships: the benefits
- Partnerships: community involvement and perceptions of health inequalities
Dr Leslie Boydell, speaking on behalf of IPH today said:
“Partnership working across government departments and their agencies and with the community, voluntary and business sectors and trade unions is central to government policies for tackling complex problems. Several such partnerships have been set up to improve health in deprived communities and address inequalities in health in Ireland and Northern Ireland. These partnerships share a common goal of reducing inequalities in health by effectively tackling the wider determinants of health, such as where we live.”
Dr Boydell continued: “This research has been funded by the Research and Development Office for Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland as part of their New Targeting Social Need programme. The study was collaboration between IPH and the Centre for Psycho-Social Studies at the University of the West of England.”
Elaine O’Doherty, Investing for Health Manager, Northern Health and Social Services Board added:
“The Northern & Eastern Investing for Health Partnerships have also used the Partnership Evaluation Tool at the recent 2007 Investing for Health conference. The model has been invaluable in explaining and capturing the benefits of the highly complex processes, action and impacts of partnership working to improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities”.
Ends
For further information contact Arlene McKay on +44 (0)28 90 648494 or Gráinne Walsh on +44 (0)28 9087 2800 or +44 (0)79 2016 5600
NOTES TO EDITOR
The Benefits of Partnerships
The launch of these resources is taking place on Thursday 6 December from 10.30am to 1pm at the Crown Plaza, Dundalk. All documents are available with Partnership Evaluation Tool online www.partnershiptool.ie
Partnership Evaluation Tool (PET)
A Partnership Evaluation Tool (PET) has been developed to help multisectoral partnerships to monitor their development, to assess emerging benefits and to identify areas for further development. Developed as a web-based resource, the PET will be available with pdf’s of the documents on www.partnershiptool.ie for any partnership to use to support its own assessment and development, and will be showcased at the event. PET has already been used in the Northern Health and Social Services Board’s 2005/2006 Director of Public Health’s Annual Report, in the section on the Northern Investing for Health Partnership.
Examples of Partnership working in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
In Northern Ireland the Investing for Health (IfH) public health strategy led to the establishment of four partnerships. In the Republic of Ireland the RAPID programme, led by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in Ireland, similarly focuses on bringing government departments and state agencies together with community and voluntary organisations to coordinate services for disadvantaged communities.
The Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH)
The Institute of Public Health in Ireland was set up to seek practical advantages from building co-operation for public health between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We work in four areas: policy advice, information, research and capacity building and our objective is to tackle inequalities in health and improve the health of the public.
