Our approach to co-production

There is no single, universal model of co‑production and the way co‑production is done in Gloucestershire varies in each situation depending on the task, context and the people involved. We have a strong commitment across the whole of our directorate to co-production and this is described in more detail in appendix 10.

What has prevented us from excelling in this area consistently is a lack of understanding of and support for co-production as a means to:

• gather qualitative data from the people who use our services;
• design high quality services;
• inform priority setting; and
• evidence achievement of outcomes.

Recent peer challenges have told us:

“Underdeveloped understanding of co-production, approaches and processes that support co-production… there needs to be a clearer statement of what co-production is, and work done by staff to understand what this looks like in their own work”.

Following our peer challenge, we have reviewed our approach to co-production and have set out our strategic aims, including identifying this as one of our eight core priorities for the year. We have engaged partnership boards focused on learning disability, autism, physical disability and sensory impairment, mental health, and unpaid carers.  These groups are actively involved in our work and will be integral to the development of coproduction as a priority.

Watch this short video from our Chair of the Learning Disability Partnership Board and Co-chair on what they think of our partnership boards.