The Board received a report that was asked to reflect on the coproduction principles (currently in draft) and to comment on the proposed approach to future Health and Wellbeing Board meetings and how coproduction principles can be built into future meetings.  The discussions on this report have been summarised below:

The Board:

v  Noted that at the heart of coproduction is that ‘people should feel that they have equal power in shaping and designing services and programme that impact on their health and wellbeing’.

v  Agreed that coproduction is at the heart of addressing inequalities in health. Applying consistent principles to programmes as well as to the approach of the Health and Wellbeing Board across the health and care system is fundamental.

v  Noted that (i) over the past 6 months, partners and residents have come together to agree shared principles of coproduction across the health and care system; and (ii) the Health and Wellbeing Strategy has been grounded upon what matters most to residents of Tower Hamlets.

v  Agreed that residents should not be the passive recipients of health care services, but the active agents of their own lives trusted to make the right choices for themselves and their families. 

v  Agreed that coproduction changes all this. It makes the system more efficient, more effective, and more responsive to community needs. More importantly, it makes social care altogether more humane, more trustworthy, more valued and altogether more transforming for those who use it.

v  Agreed that co-production shifts the balance of power, responsibility, and resources from healthcare professionals more to the individuals, by involving residents in the delivery of their own services. It recognises that “people are not merely repositories of need or recipients of services” but are the very resource that can turn public services around (i.e., by treating residents and the wider community as potential assets, rather than as passive recipients, the healthcare agencies will be able to leverage previously invisible or neglected resources – the capacities and knowledge of service users and the wider community itself).

v  Agreed that co-production also means unleashing a wave of innovation about how services are designed and delivered and how public goods are achieved, by healthcare professionals working alongside residents.

v  Agreed that it was important to consider co-production within the context of the equality duty to ensures that all that all healthcare professionals play their part in making the local community fairer by tackling discrimination and providing equality of opportunity for all.

v  Agreed on the importance of greater transparency so that all stakeholders involved in the co-production of a service are informed of the relevant governance and commissioning timeframes which may provide the parameters of any associated work.

v  Agreed on the need for clarity to communicate those decisions that are in scope of the co-production process and those that are not.

v  Agreed that when discussing the key components of co-production these should include: (a) defining people who use services as assets with skills; (b) breaking down the barriers between people who use services and professionals; (c) building on people’s existing capabilities; (d) working with local peer and personal support networks alongside professional networks; and (e) facilitating services by helping organisations to become agents for change rather than just being service providers.

v  Agreed that there should be an opportunity for a continuing dialogue on the proposed approach to future Health and Wellbeing Board meetings and how coproduction principles be developed and shared.