Working together to shape better care
Co-production Week (29 June to 3 July) is an annual campaign that shines a light on the power of co-production in creating better, more inclusive care.
This year's theme is care equity. This is about ensuring that everyone, regardless of their background, identity or circumstances, has equal access to high-quality care, that truly meets their needs.
Co-production Week reminds us that when people work in genuine partnership, services can become stronger, more responsive, and compassionate. It brings together people who use services, carers, practitioners and organisations to share learning, inspire good practice, and spark important conversations about the future of care.
For example, NHFT's Crisis Response Unit was created through genuine collaboration between clinicians and people with lived experience. By sharing what mattered most to them, they shaped a new service that better meets service user needs - rather than it being designed by clinicians alone.
Throughout the week, we will:
- Highlight the benefits of co-production in practice in real settings
- Share examples of meaningful partnership working
- Celebrate the contributions of people with lived experience and carers
Group co-production charter and principles
For the first time, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) and Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT), have come together as an NHS group to jointly develop shared foundations for lived experience co-production across two counties.
This joint work brings lived experience and professional expertise together as equal partners, with a shared focus on shaping what safe and effective co-production looks like in practice and how it can be applied consistently across both organisations. By working collaboratively, LPT and NHFT have demonstrated a shared commitment to strengthening co-production and ensuring it meaningfully influences services and decision-making.
NHS England define co-production as:
"Co-production is a way of working that involves people who use health and care services, carers and communities in equal partnership; and which engages groups of people at the earliest stages of service design, development and evaluation.
Co-production acknowledges that people with 'lived experience' of a particular condition are often best placed to advise on what support and services will make a positive difference to their lives. Done well, co-production helps to ground discussions in reality, and to maintain a person-centred perspective. Co-production is part of a range of approaches that includes citizen involvement, participation, engagement & consultation."
Our work was developed through a series of co-produced workshops that brought together staff, people with lived experience (including our growing lived experience workforces), and carers from across both Trusts. People involved in the workshops worked together to explore what success should look like and what is needed to support meaningful co-production activity. The process included many voices, welcoming many viewpoints and valuing different experiences, skills and insights.
A main goal has been making sure this work creates real impact, not just big ideas on paper. The intention is to use these shared foundations to support more consistent approaches to co-production, improve experiences for everyone involved, and strengthen relationships between organisations, staff, and communities.
Read our Group Co-production Charter and Principles
Anne Rackham, Group Chief Integration and Delivery Officer said:
"Co production should be at the heart of our work in healthcare, for LPT and NHFT to collaborate and ensure this is at the forefront of our ways of working and learning is really positive and exciting. This brings to life co production of experts by experience, and experts by profession in a really powerful way. The NHS has many challenges nationally, this charter gives us a really good base to work from across the Group in making a difference together."
Georgie Lomas, CYP Participation and Co-production Lead, NHFT, said:
"Working jointly across NHFT and LPT has been a valuable opportunity to bring together different perspectives and create shared foundations for meaningful co-production across all ages. This joined-up approach will help strengthen how we work alongside people with lived experience, carers and staff across both Trusts."
Nicola Oliver, Adult Mental Health Co-production Lead, NHFT, said:
"Working in partnership with colleagues from LPT has shown the value of genuine collaboration. Together, we have created shared foundations that will help strengthen co-production and ensure lived experience continues to shape services in meaningful ways. Being part of this work has shown me that my views really matter. It felt like everyone was listened to equally, and I could see how what we shared is shaping something that will make a real difference for young people, adults and others in the future."
Alison Kirk, Head of Participation, Co-production and Patient and Carer Experience, LPT, said:
"We really value the opportunity to work collaboratively with our colleagues at NHFT and by bringing those with lived experience of our services voices together brings such depth of experience, skills and knowledge that will truly help us drive forward our commitment to coproduction and collaborative working. Our joint work on developing our Group Coproduction Charter and principles was evidence of this and we look forward to continuing to work together as we start to embed these across the group."
What's next?
The next phase will focus on translating this into practice. This includes the development of supporting resources such as:
- Training
- Guidance
- Evaluation frameworks
- Wellbeing focused approaches for staff and people with lived experience
These resources will help ensure co-production is embedded, measurable and leads to positive outcomes for communities.