Co-production: not rocket science?

By Pete Fleischmann, Head of Co-production, SCIE 

Co-production is about people who use services and carers working in equal partnerships with professionals to design and deliver services; and I don’t often hear someone arguing over the value of co-production.

I do however, hear people say that it isn’t, or shouldn’t be portrayed or perceived as, rocket science. But if it is so simple a concept, why aren’t most health and social care services delivered in co-production?

I think the answer to this question is in two parts

Firstly people are complex and contradictory, have different working styles and are very diverse in many other ways too. So working in really equal partnerships is not, as it turns out quite as easy as it sounds on paper.

Secondly the systems that we have created to provide and health and social care systems are fiendishly complicated. So introducing co-production into these systems and trying to get real change is a pretty tricky business. 

Training days

To do co-production well it is important that everyone involved has the same understanding of exactly what co-production is. We have two training sessions in the lead-up to Co-production Week:

Co-production: an introduction. A CPD-accredited course giving an introductory overview of co-production and how its principles can be applied in the workplace.

Paying people who receive benefits training course. Giving an overview into best practice in terms of co-production and the benefits system.

If you go to the links above, both courses have feedback from delegates who have just finished a day’s training.

So, is co-production straightforward? Well, for instance, it’s not easy making sure that a meeting or activity is accessible, especially if the people who are attending have a wide range of access requirements.

So actually doing co-production well can have its challenges. But we’re here to help. As well as our training we have a wide range of other co-production resources. And please get involved in the third annual Co-production Week from 2 July 2018. All of this can help you find that, with a bit of support from us, co-production isn’t always rocket science.