Partnering with stakeholders

This chapter outlines how partnering with stakeholders is important for quality health service management and healthcare delivery, and highlights common patterns that drive partnership-based public policy. It also provides an introduction to concepts associated with partnering in health services, defining key terms and discussing the managerial skills or competencies required to engage with stakeholders and implement partnership-based policy. The interests of key stakeholders within the health sector are identified and discussed, and important steps are outlined for a manager undertaking a stakeholder analysis. Finally, the chapter explores the factors essential to successful partnerships and the competencies managers need to successfully develop and maintain stakeholder partnerships.