Parnerships for better health

In 2009, the Department of Health, in preparation for the Coalition for Better Health initiative, published a pamphlet, Partnerships for Better Health, advocating partnership working to achieve public health objectives, and providing examples of good practices. The pamphlet had a foreword by Public Health Minister Caroline Flint. The pamphlet stated: ‘The success stories contained in this pack demonstrate that partnerships involving the public, private and voluntary sectors are already alive and thriving. They support every area of the health and wellbeing agenda and empower communities to take responsibility for applying initiatives in ways that meet the needs of local people. Importantly, they allow partners – including government – to achieve much more than they would ever achieve alone.’

For alcohol, the good practice cited was the setting up of the Drinkaware Trust. On this, the pamplet explained that achieving partnership working in regard to alcohol was a difficult task: ‘the many stakeholders concerned with alcohol issues would all have to be encouraged to participate, and many had opposing views. Producers, retailers, voluntary sector support organisations, medics and healthcare providers – what force could bring them all to the same table and help them find a consensus? It became clear that an honest broker was needed, and that government was uniquely placed to fulfil that role. It facilitated the setting up of a steering group consisting of six members – three from the alcohol industry and three non-industry members – thus ensuring that all sides of the alcohol debate were represented. This balance of representation was to prove important to the success of the partnership; without it, the subsequent Trust would not be able to secure the buy-in from alcohol experts and industry stakeholders, which was necessary for the Trust to succeed.’

The pamplet quotes Srebani Sen, the then Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern, as saying: “The fact that we were able to broker an agreement within a heated area of debate is a major achievement.”