What Makes a Successful Partnership? Lessons from a Multi-Agency Equity-Focused Maternal and Early Childhood Health Partnership in Victoria, Australia: A Case Study.

Disparities in maternal and child health outcomes in high-income countries, including Australia, are influenced by complex social determinants of health. We formed a multi-disciplinary multi-agency partnership to improve the capacity of maternity and early childhood health workforces to identify and respond to social factors contributing to poorer perinatal outcomes for families in a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. This case study reports our experiences and reflections on working in partnership during the COVID-19 pandemic. An evaluation involving semi-structured interviews and a collaborative workshop attended by 10 partnership group members was undertaken in 2023. Recognising that the pandemic had constrained the implementation of many project activities, the aims of the evaluation were: to understand what had worked well within the partnership group and why, and to identify insights and recommendations to inform government and policy makers, health service managers, and teams seeking to undertake similar work. Partnership members valued the opportunity and time invested in building and maintaining relationships across agencies and between team members. Disruption to services associated with the COVID-19 pandemic amplified established cultural, political, and organisational barriers to service innovation and health equity. Despite the challenges of undertaking this work during the COVID-19 pandemic, our positive collaborative relationships and shared sense of purpose have supported us to remain hopeful about the potential for future health equity initiatives to achieve change. Reflecting our optimism, we have co-produced a set of recommendations for teams seeking to undertake similar work in the future.