By June Sadd, Survivor / Consultant
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” a much
used quote from Dickens ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ seems so appropriate for the
current experiences of service users and carers and professionals in social
care. Often conferences and workshops
are entitled “From Rhetoric to Reality” where user involvement and aspects of
social care provision are discussed.
However the reality of today’s experiences of social care has
overwhelmed and subsumed the rhetoric of the past.
Some time ago I wrote a piece for Community Care as part of
an article entitled ‘Blue Sky Thinking’ which was devoted to the development of
user involvement. I feel the fluffy
white clouds on the horizon at that time have burgeoned into much bigger,
darker clouds. However I am very glad to
say that through the gathering gloom twinkles the nugget which is
Co-production. Well, enough of the
imagery though I do believe that a picture is worth a thousand words, as the
saying goes.
We sometimes forget how new the concept of Co-production is
and how it needs to be nurtured as a rare and precious thing. A slightly cynical view might be that
co-production has always been there under the different guises of user
involvement, engagement, participation and consultation. So what’s all the fuss? Well these other concepts do not rock the
Power boat – they all stay within the traditional relationship of power-giver
and power-receiver. So much
power-sharing and no further.
Service users and carers involved in true co-productive
approaches require the Power fault line to be adjusted between professionals
and themselves. We understand this well
from our experiences but professionals, particularly those who are working in
social care and health organisations new to the concept of user involvement, do
struggle. We understand that
professionals have a responsibility and accountability for decision-making in
the co-productive relationship but is it as easily understood by professionals
that we have rights and that choice and control are important concepts to us?
Co-production could provide the answer to many service issues and I do
hope you can get involved in National Co-production Week.
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