Taking co-production seriously in Adult Social Care across the East through “Count Me In”

Natasha Burberry, Sector Led Improvement Programme Manager, East of England Adult Social Care

Adult Social Care across the East has held a serious of three workshops during 2016/17 with people who use services, carers, providers and commissioners to create a shared understanding about how people and families can work together to improve local markets.
Here is what Simon Leftley, the East Regional Lead Director for this programme said: 

"We have been committed for some time to empower and involve users of services and their carer’s in the design, commissioning and evaluation of services. this work is extremely timely with emphasis on meaningful coproduction in transforming care partnerships and other national programmes. this is a fantastic opportunity to develop our thinking and relationships within the region to make this a reality."

Together, we co-designed a logo to support the work. We shared current practice. We co-produced a pledge along with a printable/easy read toolkit to ensure that we have a co-designed agreement of “what good looks like” and a tool that can actively monitor progress against that.

Pledge (pdf document)  >>>
Toolkit (pdf document) >>>

We are due to hold another event in September to bring people back together to share progress with the pledge/toolkit, discuss the remaining challenges and plan another phase of improvement support to ensure we live up to our pledge.

Here are some early examples of how we have used the pledge and toolkit to inform our work. We hope to report on outcomes and how the work is making a difference after the September event...

"Thurrock are working with their communities’ team to use the toolkit. They have an away day for their community hubs and will be asking teams to collect feedback against the pledge."

"Essex have done some good work on coproduction/ collaboration. Essex has commissioned Health watch to do a thinking piece on what is working/ not in Essex and for them to make some recommendations. The toolkit and pledge will be used to inform this work."

"Norfolk have used the pledge to start discussions with their ‘Making it real Group’ and Commissioners about what works well and what we need to improve. This has generated some great examples of good practice and some areas where we need to develop skills and expertise."

"Southend Borough Council in partnership with the University of Essex undertook a Community Study day in May. Part of the social work degree course involved 1st year students spending 5 days in Southend walking the streets, talking with residents and visiting groups and projects to map local assets and understand the strengths of the community."

"Hertfordshire has re-tendered community dementia services using the principles of coproduction and social value to create a sustainable, community owned service. This involved engaging GP services, memory clinics, providers, CCGs and national experts to understand the gaps and opportunities."

The programme has been supported by Simon Leftley, Eastern Regional Director Lead for Transforming Care & Deputy Chief Executive for Southend Borough Council.

For further details, please contact Natasha Burberry, Sector Led Improvement Programme Manager - Natasha.burberry@hertfordshire.gov.uk