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Health Minister announces £500,000 partnership fund to support staff development

A new fund to promote and develop partnership working between employers and trades unions has been announced today by Health Minister Ann Keen.

Speaking at the NHS Employers conference in Birmingham today, the Minister launched 'The Partnership Fund', which will offer employers and unions in the NHS a chance to bid for support to help develop local partnership working.

Constructive joint working can help deliver improved patient services. This builds on the work done by the Social Partnership Forum (SPF) at national level, which has improved working relationships between the Department, NHS Employers and the trade unions.

It is anticipated that this fund could be used in a number of ways such as joint training sessions and workshops where employers and trade unions can develop local agreements about how they can work together to have a positive impact on NHS services.

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