Partnership Support Programme

One of the ways we aim to support partnerships is through our Partnership Support Programme (previously Intensive Support Programme). This involves working intensively with a few partnerships at a time, by invitation, to help tackle the issues, challenges and opportunities that are jointly identified.

Our support work helps us to identify current and emerging issues facing partnerships and to share useful information and practical solutions with other partnerships across Scotland. We recognise that partnerships need to maintain a balanced focus on national priorities and local needs, so our intensive work is carefully tailored to suit the specific requirements of each partnership we work with.

Each of our support programmes is led by either JIT Director Mike Martin, or Assistant Director Dr Margaret Whoriskey, with support from our JIT Associates and members of the Action Group who have the skills and experience that are suited to the work we’re doing. Together, we work with key strategic and service managers from the partnerships to ensure all the right people are involved. Communication is essential to the success of our intensive work, and we’re on-site working directly with partnerships as much as possible.

What’s the process for seeking partnership support?

We’re interested in hearing from partnerships that would like to know more about how we can help. We might find that some of the outcomes from our current programmes could be applicable to your situation, so please contact us.

To manage early requests for support, we used criteria that are outlined in a paper that discusses our approach, which you can download via the right hand panel on this page. This early paper was prepared to help inform the development of our work programme, and over time we’ve found that many aspects of our work programme have evolved in response to operational experience. We also drafted practice notes to ensure that we operated in a comprehensive, rigorous and methodical manner. Like the advice on our approach, the practice notes are for guidance, rather than prescriptive, purposes and are modified to suit the particular circumstances of each partnership.

Our support programmes share a broad framework that includes six key stages:

  • Formal request from the partnership for intensive support.
  • Agree the programme and preparatory work around the programme structure and management.
  • Joint assessment and diagnosis.
  • Development of an action plan.
  • Implementation of the action plan.
  • Monitoring, review and evaluation.

The action plan is jointly prepared by JIT and the partnership, and it identifies the actions, expected outcomes, staff and other resource inputs required for the intensive support programme, along with timescales. It includes monitoring and review arrangements that will apply throughout the programme, and which are intended to help identify and address any problems, difficulties or unanticipated changes as the programme is implemented. All of our intensive programmes are structured to deliver sustainable outcomes, albeit via a process that allows some flexibility.