As a member of TLAP’s National Co-production Advisory Group (NCAG) I was on the steering group that helped co-produce our latest Care Act product: ‘People not process – coproduction in commissioning’.
My interest in co-production has been quite long term because fifteen years ago after experiencing health care and treatment, it was clear from my perspective and the patient perspective that you were ‘done to’ – you were not involved, you had very little control.
The power appeared to be in the hands of the professionals with very little decision making from the patient. The mandate to shift this balance has really got underway with the Care Act in which coproduction forms the bedrock.
What does this mean for the day-to-day working lives of those in the social care sector, and for commissioners in particular?
It means commissioners need to think differently about their relationships with people who use services when they commission services. A shift in culture like this can understandably meet with resistance – it takes trust and it means finding the balance that is reciprocal and not tokenistic.
From my own experiences of working co-productively for the past seven or eight years as user involvement lead for the National Workforce Programme New Ways of Working I can say that it is no longer involvement or partnership -it’s a step further than that. It is about co-producing something in a valued way whilst sharing expertise with the professionals. By respecting what I had to say I found it developed a mutual respect.
The Making it Real programme – a voluntary commitment to personalisation -has helped crystallise this sentiment; now with People not process we are going a step further and giving guidance and practical examples for how councils can use coproduction in their approach to market shaping and commissioning so that it is a “shared endeavour” and not a sole endeavour.
TLAP has co-produced a series of Care Act products; for me this one is the glue that holds them all together.
As an NCAG member I say give it a go and if you get stuck just ask – that’s co-production and it’s essentially about the people and not the process!
