Public involvement has been one of the key recommendations in the NHS Long Term Plan for transforming health and social care. The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health designated the need for developing evidence-based strategies in co-production. The approach aims to discover new ways to cooperate and exchange experiences and resources to help provide better person-centred care.

Defining Co-Production

Co-production in health and social care describes working in partnerships between people who need care and support, caregivers, local authorities, public services and the community to improve the quality of service provision. It is a set of core principles and approaches that can help transform how social care and mental health support are drafted and delivered.

The co-production approach allows health and social care providers to empower people who use their services to get involved in shaping, designing and developing care plans. This can be implemented on both individual and collective levels. Co-production in mental health services can implement creativity and innovation to add social value and empower people to share experiences and knowledge to create a better local community.

Mental Health and Co-Production

Backed up by increased funding for mental health care, the NHS initiative fosters collaboration between people, primary care, community services, and commissioners, but also between service providers and trusts. Co-production in mental health calls for person-centred care and support, which allows people to be more in control over their health and care.

The government’s strategy embraces the provision of co-production in current and future mental health services for children, adults, and older adults. Co-production in mental health services is aligned with the Mental Health Act, Health and Social Care Act 2012, and Care Act 2014.

Co-Production as a New Model of Community Mental Health

The co-production process focuses on building relationships and giving everyone an opportunity to share their voice, knowledge and expertise. It aims to reduce hierarchy and promote respect, focusing on the experiences and skills of people with mental health challenges, including their family members, friends and caregivers.

Throughout co-production, everyone needs to have equal opportunity to share a voice and add value to the decision-making. It should create a culture of belonging and togetherness, where people will not separate each other with ‘us’ and ‘them’ but will work as a whole. The goal is for everyone to have an equal level of control and choice throughout the process when appropriate and needed.

Co-production helps people see things from a different perspective, and it is a journey towards continuous improvement and mutual work to achieve the best outcomes for everyone. By representing the community’s voice, people experience from multiple perspectives, contributing to better ideas, better development, and successful co-production.

Co-Production Examples in Mental Health Services

Co-production can significantly empower people to get involved in conversations about their own care and activities that can bring value and transform their own well-being. The opportunity to influence decision-making regarding how mental health services are provided, whether on a personal or collective level, benefits the entire community.

Treatment Planning

Co-production in treatment planning embodies a collaborative approach involving care recipients, their families, and professionals in every facet of care. This inclusive approach fosters a more person-centred, effective, and compassionate environment. It empowers people and their families to take an active role in their care while providing healthcare professionals with a deeper understanding of the person’s experiences and requirements.

Peer Support Workers

Co-production involves working together in a way that values the expertise and contributions of everyone included. People in need of support, peer support workers, health professionals, and sometimes the local authorities share the power and accountability for planning, creating, providing, and evaluating a care plan or service. Co-producing is not just about working together, but rather, it’s about creating a powerful and lasting change that will benefit community development.

Support Groups

In support groups, co-delivery thrives as individuals with shared experiences come together to provide mutual assistance and emotional support. Members actively collaborate to co-create a nurturing environment where they exchange coping strategies, insights, and advice. Professionals may facilitate these groups, but the emphasis is on the collective knowledge and support of the participants. Through co-production, support groups empower individuals to take an active role in their mental well-being, fostering a sense of belonging and shared learning that is integral to the positive outcomes.

Physical Health and Co-Production

Many people with mental health problems also experience challenges with their physical health, which often results from a lack of access to proper care and support. With a co-productive approach, people experience a significant improvement in both mental and physical health. Engagement with the community allows people to feel that their presence and contributions matter. This helps build trust and respect, as well as the improved outcomes of all the members involved.

Co-Production and Person-centred Care

Person-centred care, strengths-reinforcement, and outcome-based approaches in mental health support are reflected in co-production principles. Care and support should be about helping people create a meaningful and rewarding life, defined and influenced by a person’s own choices and ideas, whether or not they’re experiencing any challenges.

Implementing co-production in a mental health context is about building a trusting relationship between an individual and their caregiver when they become partners on a journey of mutual progress and improvement.

The Role of Co-Production for Positive Outcomes

Co-production focuses on people’s skills, strengths, passions and abilities, and this approach emerged in opposition to the traditional model of care, which accents a person’s deficits and barriers. Co-production is centred towards what people CAN DO rather than what they cannot do.

Co-production ensures that people are actively included in choosing the outcomes they want to achieve with the assistance of a care practitioner. The opportunity for reciprocity, community activity and social inclusion empowers people to genuinely contribute to society where they live, work and play, disregarding the ‘labels’, diagnoses and stigma.

Positive Outcomes with Catalyst Care Group

As an organisation, we are committed to supporting the Transforming Care Agenda rooted in the human-rights model of care. Despite the challenging times of the health and social care system, we strive to create a better world for everyone through thinking and working co-productively and with shared responsibility and accountability.

With an outcome-based approach and extensive experience in collaborative working to provide person-centred and humanised care, we have supported families to feel happy and fulfilled with the people they love.

We work in partnerships with commissioners, case managers and professionals to create diversity, inclusion and belonging in the community where everyone will have access to care and everyone’s voice will be heard and valued.

Contact us today if you are looking for partnerships based on honest and transparent relationships.