Co-producing Personalisation Together with Stakeholders in Derbyshire Social Care for Adults

Outcomes

The Project Board started work in early 2009 and got underway by setting out its terms of reference and producing a statement of involvement, so that members could have a clear focus on what was required of them in the monthly meetings.

Involvement in the Project Board comes from those identified on the Stakeholder Engagement Team’s Community Map, which was developed by team member Andrew Coulson to help provide all the projects with stakeholder representation. Andrew identified key individuals and local stakeholders by contacting local voluntary groups, user organisations, forums - and also simply by asking people at events where he came into contact with service users and external stakeholders who showed interest in the ongoing personalisation work.

One key product which was co-produced by staff, partners and service users during the project was a DVD on personalisation which has achieved wide circulation in Derbyshire. An important issue was how to make it accessible to the different ethnic communities within Derbyshire – translation by commercial companies would have been enormously expensive. Through discussion with community associations from the different ethnic groups, it was possible to get the DVD translated into seven different languages, in terms which were easily understandable to service users, and at a price which was quite modest (£250 for each language).

As the Project Board has a fluid membership (key representatives will often nominate others to attend if they are unable) the group has grown from around 10 people to a membership of over 40, all of whom bring their own expertise-by-experience. One such member is John Jennings of the Citizen Leaders website who as a service user has been working with the Stakeholder Engagement Team since the beginning of 2009 and has helped with the co-production of Self Directed Support, the promotional DVD, and is now helping to train 10 more Derbyshire based Citizen Leaders. John is passionate about his and others involvement and the board gives him that opportunity.

Because of the wide-ranging backgrounds and communication needs of the members, the Project Board has had to become very sensitive to its audience. This has included the use of a red and green card system to allow all members to have their say in a fair way, colour-coded documents and a regular agenda item called ‘Jargon Buster’ where the group break down jargonistic terms linked to personalisation to help people by improving the communication approach. This sometimes means work can be slow but as one stakeholder has put it – “co-production is more like a marathon than a sprint” Jean Crosbie (Carer).

Andrew Coulson provided Governance International with this case study on 20 August 2010