Co-producing services together

Co-production brings together people who deliver services, with people who use their services to make things better for all.

In recent years, Lincolnshire has invested in developing co-production groups, sharing learning and valuing the impact of co-produced work as part of embedding personalised approaches to health and care.

By bringing the relevant parties round the table at the earliest stage, a real difference can be made.

To embed co-production across the county we need to:

Truly embrace the value of people with lived-experience and the difference they can make.
Build co-production in from the start and not as an after-thought.
Know the difference between co-production, co-design and other forms of engagement.
Be patient – it is not a quick win and is not always easy, but it is a valuable part of getting things right.
Be brave – it will feel uncomfortable.

In the video below, Vicky Thomson, Chief Executive of Every-One, talks about the importance of good co-production to health and social care provision and the value it can bring.

Please click on the sections below to find out more.

What is co-production?

Co-production is people working together to make things better for all.

It is an authentic relationship built on respect and honesty between people who draw on services and those who design and deliver them. It is an approach that values everyone’s lived experience, bringing people together to shape and improve the things that matter to them for the benefit of the people of Lincolnshire.

Why co-produce?

For those working in health, care and the voluntary sector, co-production may be a new way of working, but people with lived experience, bring a unique perspective to any piece of work.

The value of a co-production approach has been explored in a range of settings from social care, health and the voluntary sector and evidence suggests that it is an excellent approach to creating positive outcomes for people through more person-centred design and delivery of services.

What is Lincolnshire doing?

Our ambition is for:

“Lincolnshire to be a national leader in health and care in serving people in rural and coastal areas. This includes becoming excellent at ‘co-producing’ health and care with communities, citizens, patients, carers, and families across Lincolnshire.”

The value of Co-production is recognised at a strategic level:

Better Lives Lincolnshire – Integrated Care Partnership Strategy (Jan 23)
Priority Enabler 3 – Personalisation / theme 3: Wellbeing, social prescribing and community-based support
Better Lives Lincolnshire - ICP strategy January 2023

NHS Lincolnshire Joint Forward Plan (2023-2028)
Priority 1: A new relationship with the public
NHS Lincolnshire Joint Forward Plan 2023-28 (icb.nhs.uk)

Developing equal partners

Co-production aims to support people with lived experience to have the skills, knowledge and confidence to work with those from within the system as equal partners.

Whilst recognising that you can’t co-produce everything, by identifying areas of mutual importance people, can work together to improve services for all.

What is happening in Lincolnshire now?

There are already a range of co-production groups working in Lincolnshire and here are just a few examples:

Our Shared Agreement (OSA) – Since 2022, a group of people with lived experience have been co-producing the development of OSA which seeks to change the relationship between people and the health and care system. This work is ongoing and is now a priority within the Lincolnshire Joint Forward Plan.
Lincolnshire County Council Co-production Development Programme – Work started in April 2022 to support Adult Social Care to embed co-production values and practice across the service. With support from local Charity, Every-One as Strategic Partner, staff have received Co-production Awareness basic and advanced training, a cohort of Co-production Champions are being mentored, a range of co-production projects have been started / completed and toolkit is being built to provide ongoing support.

Lincolnshire Macmillan Cancer Co-production Group – Established in May 2019 this group has actively co-produced key elements of the Lincolnshire Living With Cancer programme. Members of the group share their experiences of being part of co-production here: https://youtu.be/XQdEji_UN78 (8 mins)

Lincolnshire Palliative and End of Life Co-production – this group has been working since September 2021 co-producing with a range of people from services across health and social care including community services, hospitals and hospices.

Lincolnshire MSK Co-production Group

o Insert Podcast - Ep 3. Co-production with Vicky Thomson Every-one | It’s All About People Pod (podbean.com)

Lincolnshire Mental Health Co-production Group

Supporting the Lincolnshire Community Mental Health Transformation Programme.

o Co-production - Shine (shinelincolnshire.com)

Long Covid Co-production – Part of the NHS Charities Together funded project for Lincolnshire included community support for people with Long Covid. An ambition for this project was that people with lived experience would inform the work right from the start, therefore a Long Covid co-production group was established to develop the funding bid and support the development and delivery of the project throughout. This group has proved to be integral to the success of this project to date and has acted as a catalyst for true partnership working across the delivery partners. Hear members of the group speaking about their experience here:

o Jenna talks about her experience of being part of co-production – https://youtu.be/WW9i4eUzmLA (3 mins)

o Paula’s experience of Long Covid co-production as a professional within health- https://youtu.be/RXkxqR2zI5Q (9 mins)

o The Long Covid Group’s experience of co-production – https://youtu.be/eU78CayjId8 (5 mins 50 secs)

How can you grow co-production approaches in your organisation?

Working with a co-production group on the right things, at the right time, will add quality to your project. It will challenge your thinking and practices in a positive way and identify new ways of working.

There are a number of people in Lincolnshire who have been trained to be Co-production Advocates and Champions. Also, local Charity, Every-One offer a co-production facilitation and advice service.

To find out more, email co-production@every-one.org.uk

What do people say about co-production?

“It helped to challenge professionals thinking and ensure recommendations and future direction was based on what matters to people with personal experience”

“Embrace it as working together is so rewarding, bringing a different perspective and as a professional you may feel it takes longer but the outcome is worth it.”

"Co-production is so much more than patient and public involvement! It offers individuals and groups a chance to inform, collaborate and truly be a part of projects/research/services from the beginning to the end.”

"It's truly made me realise that, as services, we need to constantly be stepping back and looking at whatever we do through the lens of our service users. But, beyond that, if we're not engaging our 'patient experts' then we're leaving ourselves blind to perspectives that are so critical to how we create and improve services.”

Want to get involved?

You can keep up to date on the latest activities and opportunities to get involved by:

Signing up to the monthly Lincolnshire Co-production Newsletter by emailing co-production@every-one.org.uk
Checking back issues of Lincolnshire Co-production Newsletter - Lincolnshire Co-production Newsletter - Every-One
Visiting www.every-one.org.uk