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Inter-organisational collaboration (IOC) across healthcare settings has been put forward as a solution to mounting financial and sustainability challenges. Whilst ingredients for successful IOC have been explored, there remains limited understanding of the development of IOCs over time.

The authors systematically reviewed the literature to identify models applied to IOCs in healthcare across databases such as Healthcare Management Information Consortium (HMIC) and MEDLINE, identifying 2,763 titles and abstracts with 26 final papers included. The authors then used a “best fit” framework synthesis methodology to synthesise fourteen models of IOC in healthcare and the wider public sector to formulate an applied composite model describing the process through which collaborations change over time. This synthesis comprised extracting stages and behaviours from included models, selecting an a priori framework upon which to code these stages and behaviours and then re-coding them to construct a new composite model.

Existing models often did not consider that organisations may undergo many IOCs in the organisations' lifetime nor included “contemplation” stages or those analogous to “dissolution”, which might negatively impact papers using such models. The formulated' composite model utilises a life-cycle design comprising five non-linear phases, namely Contemplating, Connecting, Planning, Implementation and Maintenance or Dissolution and incorporates dynamic elements from Complex Adaptive Systems thinking to reflect the dynamic nature of collaborations.

This is the first purpose-built model of the lifecycles of IOCs in healthcare. The model is intended to inform implementers, evaluators and researchers of IOCs alike.

Purpose – To examine potential sex differences among American Indian and Alaska Native peoples (AIANs) in diabetes prevalence, comorbidities, healthcare utilization, and treatment costs within the Indian Health Services (IHS).

Methodology/Approach – Data were drawn from the IHS Improving Healthcare Delivery Data Project with 437,608 persons in our analytical sample. We described sex and age differences in diabetes, comorbidities, healthcare utilization, and treatment costs among the adults with diabetes. We evaluated the statistical differences between men and women using confidence intervals calculated at the 95% level, with nonoverlapping confidence intervals indicating statistical significance.

Findings – The prevalence of diabetes among females was somewhat higher than that of males (10.82 vs 9.16%, respectively, p < 0.05). Among adults with diabetes, males had statistically higher prevalence of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and substance use disorders and fewer mental health disorders compared to females. Although males had overall lower average cost of services than females, males had higher utilization for hospital inpatient services than females, and females used more outpatient services.

Research limitations/implications – We are limited to one fiscal year of data and thus cannot predict the influence of healthcare utilization patterns on the overall health of this population. Although a large sample, the findings are only generalizable to the active users of the participating IHS Service Units.

Originality/Value of Paper – This study fills a major gap in our knowledge of sex differences in diabetes prevalence, comorbidities, healthcare utilization, and treatment costs among AIANs. Differences in the comorbidities that characterized the AIAN adult males and females with diabetes in this sample have important implications for mortality and cost of care. Diabetes management that addresses such gender-specific comorbidities, particularly substance use disorders among men and mental health disorders among women, promises to reduce these comorbidities and related complications.

This paper reports on a year‐long engagement in a sub‐region of South West England with public sector managers, who frequently work in partnership contexts. The purpose of the initiative was to increase the effectiveness of partnership working by exploring common issues and building a shared understanding of how they might be resolved. This was undertaken by holding a series of seminars and forums facilitated by the authors. The findings show that managers who are involved in numerous partnerships value stepping outside of their formal roles to reflect together on their experiences. Participants were able to identify many pertinent issues that affect their practice in partnership contexts and generate important insights. The findings are being used to develop approaches to support partnerships and collaboration in the sub‐region and further afield.

Offers an overall framework for understanding the complexities of collaborative working. After an analysis of the forces against collaborating, a social constructionist perspective is taken. A model to connect and integrate individual and collective perspectives is then presented and examined.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of tiers of governance and discuss the findings from research into a crime policy's implementation focusing on resourcing, community engagement, accountability and leadership. The paper examines the shift from partnership delivery to the Big Society.

18 in-depth semi-structured interviews with partnership managers from a range of organisations combined with non-participant semi-structured of ten partnership meetings and documentary analysis were undertaken, in tandem with the policy networks framework.

Despite the expectations placed on crime partnerships by New Labour, governance has continued to be driven by professionals and dominated by the large public sector organisations, rather than the community they serve or their service users, and with little involvement from the business sector in delivery. The focus upon voluntarism, enterprise and business in the Big Society vision will mean rapid adaptation in the sector if it is to fit the Big Society agenda successfully.

The paper serves to set out the relationships between key actors in governance in this policy area and the relevance of this to the Big Society idea. Its findings and lessons can be used to compare the policy sector across countries and for practical use by policy makers.

This article describes a partnership between the Information Management Research Institute, Northumbria University and the Durham and Teesside Health Libraries Alliance which aims to put research into practice, conduct practitioner focussed research and develop the research capacity of NHS librarians. The work of the partnership is illustrated by looking at how the Alliance has used the findings of one of IMRI’s research projects “Partnerships in Health”. The Alliance has used these findings to inform their work plan, but in addition they have amended the project’s models in the light of their experiences of implementation and of NHS changes. These amendments in their turn generate new research questions and new research projects. Thus a research‐practice spiral is produced. The partnership is one example of evidence‐based librarianship in practice.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of rural older veterans in the US and discuss how the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is increasing access to health care for older veterans in rural areas.

This is a descriptive paper summarizing population and program data about rural veterans.

VA provides a variety of health care services and benefits for older veterans to support health, independence, and quality of life. With the creation of the Veterans Health Administration Office of Rural Health (ORH) in 2006, the needs of rural veterans, who are on average older than urban veterans, are receiving greater attention and support. ORH and VA have implemented several programs to specifically improve access to health care for rural veterans and to improve quality of care for older veterans in rural areas.

This paper is one of the first to describe how VA is addressing the health care needs of older, rural veterans.

Adjustment to a post‐Doha trading regime will be disproportionately costly and difficult for developing countries. Increased aid is vital for the poor countries if they are to grasp the opportunities provided through trade and meet transition costs. With aid‐for‐trade, for the first time, the developed countries have another bound and meaningful commitment that they can offer developing countries. Our proposal to provide new resources to meet adjustment needs, however, does not suggest that trade, when combined with aid, will be a panacea for developing countries. Interactions between trade, aid, and broader development policies and reforms are important.