Working together to develop health services managers

The developing emphasis in health and social care on working across traditional boundaries will demand different approaches to staff development. If we are to retain the strengths of expertise in the enormous number of areas represented in health and social care we will need to develop better ways of understanding each other in order to work together more effectively. This paper focuses on some of the issues raised in management development programmes which have multiple objectives demanding educational and developmental support. The emphasis is on identification of issues which arise in collaboration amongst those delivering a programme when they come from the different backgrounds of training and development, personal development and higher education. Some of the issues raised in partnership working between commissioning and providing organisations are also considered.