Disability Rights UK attended a Co-Production Festival last week hosted by SCIE (The Social Care Institute of Excellence).
We heard great examples of how users of services are being involved in designing, creating and delivering better public services.
Co-Production festival highlights
There was a graphic artist capturing the day in a picture she created live plus plenty laughs as entertainment came from Britain’s Got Talent winner Lost Voice Guy and the Chief Executive of SCIE (no less!) who kicked off proceedings with a co-production themed version of “I’m a Believer”.
This was the third annual Co-production festival celebrating the benefits of co-production, sharing good practice and highlighting the contribution of people who use services and carers to develop better public services.
It was a great chance to meet colleagues across different health and social care setting to see how they were involving service users in shaping services.
From user groups in supported living for adults with learning difficulties in Bristol, to the Co-production team changing the way services are being run within Oxfordshire County Council, to a panel discussion with the director of the Care Quality Commission, the day was packed full of examples of how service users could be included with new ideas and fresh approaches.
Smaller workshops looked at the barriers and solutions to co-production- what stops it from happening within organisations and how these barriers could be overcome.
At its simplest, co-production is all about people who use services having better conversations with staff who provide services to make sure they are involved with how a service is designed.
It’s different from consultation, where often people are asked their views after key decisions have been made.
It involves users being involved at all stages of a service being run- from the design to actually running it. A key element is sharing of power, trying new approaches and shifting attitudes so that people who use services are seen as equal partners and their lived experience is seen as a vital part of designing better services.
Co-production underpins everything we do at Disability Rights UK- we are a user-led organisation which means our staff team and board of trustees is made up mainly of disabled people. We are disabled people leading change.
The Festival was just one event that took place as part of SCIE’S Co-Production week. You can catch a recording of the ‘Breaking Down The Barriers to Co-production’ live webinar here
To find out more and to sign up to next year’s Co-Production festival visit: www.scie.org.uk/co-production/week
Follow the discussion on Twitter #coprofestival