Consulting with service users was probably a radical thing to do a few years ago, but we're a greedy lot and we want so much more. I'm so pleased to have joined the Social Care Institute for Excellence (Scie) as a trustee. We want to get providers and commissioners to adopt approaches that move away from treating people as passive recipients of services, designed and delivered by someone else. As a former chair, Lady Jane Campbell, says: "At its birth, Scie secured firm foundations in user involvement. The principle informs the way that we research, design and develop all our work."
This started off with what we called "participation". It meant involving service users in activities; seeking their opinions so that the design and delivery of services could be as good as possible. For instance, back in 2006 we produced a report Doing it for Themselves: participation and black and minority ethnic service users. This concluded that, over the previous 20 years, mainstream service-user participation in social care had increased markedly whereas black and minority ethnic participation had diminished over the same period. More recently we've looked at user involvement in adult safeguarding. Many approaches can be used to support the involvement of people who use services, for instance by involving users in training professionals.
Co-production – what it means
We've had an independent evaluation and now we've concluded it's time take things to the next level and embrace "co-production". What we are developing is an equal partnership with people who use services. This new policy, which grew out of an independent evaluation of Scie's participation work, will mean that Scie is working towards co-producing all its work with service users and carers.
When we looked at the research on what co-production could mean for adult social care, we found the best approach "emphasises that people are not passive recipients of services and have assets and expertise which can help improve services." This also means involving citizens in "collaborative relationships with more empowered frontline staff, who are able and confident to share power and accept user expertise". At its best, co-production can not only improve, but change care and support. This is summed up in our research briefing: Co-production: an emerging evidence base for adult social care transformation.
So, there's a growing realisation that people don't simply have needs that have to be met; they have assets (experience, skills and expertise) which can improve services. Staff should be supported to understand the benefits of co-production, to collaborate and share power.
I know how important it is for service users to be involved like this. My particular field of interest and specialism is mental health. I have enduring mental health problems, having used services over many years. I bring this perspective to the Scie board and I'm really excited to be joining; I get the chance to dispel myths about discrimination surrounding mental health problems. And I want to see service users becoming equal partners and the co-creators of Scie products and programmes. I'll be championing this thought at the first meeting of our new co-production network on 28 June.
Tina Coldham is a trustee of the Social Care Institute for Excellence
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