In recent years there has been a wholesale shift in the national policy focus, from promoting competition between provider organisations within a purchaser/provider split, to a clear expectation that local health and care organisations collaborate to make the best use of public funding and accelerate the integration of services for patients.

Our new briefing, Collaborative working: Tackling governance challenges in practice, outlines a series of case studies that examine emerging governance systems in more detail. 

The publication aims to support provider boards and their partners in identifying what the most important considerations are when developing new governance mechanisms to underpin collaborative relationships.

We hope it will make a valuable contribution to discussions on about how best to develop robust mechanisms in support of system working.