Co-production is when organisations include the views of people who make use of their services, people who care for someone who uses their services, or people who could use their services but do not, either because they experience barriers for access, or because the service is yet to be designed. It is the higher steps of the ‘Ladder of Engagement’ shown here.

These views are embedded at the heart of decision making and service improvement, in partnership with all stakeholders. Co-production drives the service or organisation to make changes that are more aligned with and respectful of the client / patient / service user experience, rather than being tailored by and for staff. People with lived or living experience can (and should) be included in changes from the initial point of identifying a need or issue, to planning how this can be addressed, to making the change itself, and even reviewing the change once completed.

Co-production does not only look at bad things that have happened to people, in order to fix those for the future. People can also identify examples of good support, and beneficial services, so that those good things can be shared and copied.