Partnership working to benefit patients and the public: Benefits, challenges and recommendations from four projects

Partnership working involves two or more organisations working collaboratively to achieve a common goal. In England, partnership working between healthcare organisations and public library services is recommended to enable patients and the public to easily access high quality health information. This paper discusses the working partnership between Royal Papworth Hospital Library and Knowledge Service (LKS) and Cambridgeshire Libraries (CL). Over a three-year period between 2018-2021, we jointly undertook four projects which focused on the themes of health information, health literacy and patient experience. This paper will present the background to the projects and discuss how the partnership was first established around a national campaign to highlight Health Information Week. It will summarise each project, the associated aims, and the subsequent outcomes. The presentation will outline the mutual benefits of the collaboration which included opportunities for innovation and service improvement, professional development, and reaching new communities. The challenges related to communication, organisational factors and evaluation are addressed. Finally, we offer our recommendations to health library colleagues wishing to undertake joint projects or a collaborative partnership to inform their future planning and practice.