Managing the partnership

It is important to be sensitive to partners’ varied capacity and individual support needs.

Some organisations may be working on the issues full time. In other cases a Priority Setting Partnership member may be an individual who is having voluntary input and also has an unrelated ‘day job’.

Effective communication is key to ensuring people are both kept informed and able to participate fully. This can be guided by early discussions about partners’ capacity and preferences for communication. The Declaration of Interests form is one tool for gathering this information - click here to find out more.

The JLA encourages steering group members to work in a consultative way. This ensures all members are able to contribute to decision-making. They should be transparent about how decisions are made.

It is also important that no one party or organisation is allowed to dominate the process, regardless of size or resource. Part of the JLA’s role is to ensure the process is fair and inclusive. Partners should be made aware of this from the outset.