Holding our leaders' feet to the fire - co-pro at a tipping point in Wales?

[Ruth Dineen]

Over the past two years, we have, collectively, helped to build an active and knowledgeable community of practice in Wales, internationally acknowledged and often world-leading.

The result has been a slow but sure shift in the direction of transformative co-production, the first tentative steps towards a realignment of the relationship between state and citizens based on trust, on equal and reciprocal relationships. We have a potentially radical Social Services & Well-being Act, a National Outcomes Framework, a Prudent Healthcare strategy underpinned by co-production, growing interest in the possibilities of co-produced commissioning, and a Co-production Implementation Group chaired by the CMO.

So what's the beef? Why do we need to hold feet to fires?

Well, we think we are at a tipping point - and it could go either way.

Although much has been achieved to date, there appears to be a change in the language being used by Welsh Government. Co-production is being discarded in favour of partnership, engagement and collaboration. The principles outlined by Edgar Cahn are being glossed over or omitted from key documents. The experience of the international co-production community suggests that any dilution of the term puts the entire enterprise at risk.

Today we have sent an Open Letter to Welsh Government asking for 'an unambiguous statement about the place of co-production in Welsh Government’s public service strategy, legislation and commissioning, underpinned by a shared understanding of the term'.

Our shared aspiration - to embed co-production at the heart of our public services - can only be achieved if the Welsh Government and its citizens work together, with a sense of common purpose based on relationships of trust and reciprocity. Without explicit and unambiguous support for co-production from our government, transformation will remain piecemeal. Without the willing participation of citizens - as service-recipients, carers, advocates, professionals and academics – it will be tokenistic and ineffective.

Please add your kindling to the fire in any way you can: check out the letter, and the list of 120+ supporters on our web site, share widely on social media, tweet our politicians, re-blog or send this on to colleagues, friends and interested parties, start a conversation, sing a song, create a graphic, make some noise. Help us show that we stand united for real change in public services, and for equality, reciprocity and social justice.

We simply cannot afford to fail.