Co-production or Consultation

 

Coproduction versus Consultation?

 

Defining coproduction, it’s quite simple you'd think, and consultation is completely different. So why do we use Co production? We used Co production to come up with solutions two issues that affect us on a day-to-day basis and in whatever sector you find yourself in and you will find that we basically all sing from the same hymn sheet. This is because we have a lot to give and have a lot to say. Coproduction really is about listening to many different voices and having many different voices within that room be that on a zoom call or a Teams meeting valuing themselves or just as effective even more effective as you're listening to people from around the country even the world. Ok now we are using this technology because of the coronavirus, however if we want to be inclusive is it a good idea to be using this technology all the time, because the transport in much of the UK is particularly dreadful and expensive.

 

Not everybody has the infinite financial resources to be able to pay a personal assistant to attend with them at a particular meeting and this is really an aside, but it is equally as important as being there in person. Back to Co-production again so Co production throws up more answers and then allows you to expand into other areas, but doesn't consultation allow for this as well, yes it does to a certain extent, but coproduction allows greater emphasis and more different ways of thinking and approaches from different power dynamics. Consultation can be very one sided and only is taking one point of view Imagine someone with a clipboard asking you a set of questions this is a form of consultation, but sometimes we find that organisations are using the term of coproduction to cover up their meeting as a consultation exercise and ask many of us that are involved in coproduction and we can show many examples where this has surely being the case.

 

Then we have these “so called experts” who think just by doing work with two hours councils in what they think is coproduction, but they are suddenly experts for working with different councils up and down the land in the delivery of coproduction. Unfortunately, they tend not to work with people who have lived experience or experts by experience, and this is because there was a tendency do not use people like us as we can highlight what is working and what isn't working. Professionals do not actually like working with people as I have just mentioned because we take up too much time and we tell them what it is like.

 

Since January 2020 I was involved with my local authority with a series of called coproduction meetings as I am in receipt of a direct payment, unfortunately these meetings tend to go on for rather a long time approximately two hours, with little breaks and rather painful and tedious. I say that because they tended to repeat and summarised what had gone off at the last meeting, with the same old diatribe. It became noticeably clear to me that these so-called co- production meetings we're nothing more than a consultation exercise around personalisation. It's tended to be very controlled and when people touched on controversial subject everyone it was almost as if they were told to shut up, which is not within the spirit of coproduction. I know about controversies within coproduction, and I was most offended that we had these so-called experts, who were drafted in from other areas and you had no idea whatsoever of how things will run in this county.

 

In the end I opted out of the Co-production meetings as I told the organisers, but I found this was to be a complete waste of time, I did ask the organisers, namely my local authority and the other organisation that was involved for a copy of the questions in advance of this meeting, so I could give my responses in a different way. Of course, the local authority reply to said no they could not do this, so I voted with my feet and I walked. I now get my information from another source, I also learned that this council had indeed broken the Equality Act, because I have autism and I I'm entitled to a copy of questions before any consultation or Co production meeting. Does this all ring a bell with some people because we have problems within the NHS who find coproduction is seen as a threat, but the argument from us is that we should be entitled to give our point of view as patients I'm not just members of the public. There are also major problems in the mental health sector as they tend to think that we are all stupid and that we should have no Co production within mental health services this is not very equality minded is it.

 

Now you have read my blog please consider Co production versus consultation and please tell me what you think or debate.