In this Talk Show about co-production, Alex Lodge is joined by Mike Knowle and Stuart and Mick of Exeter Homelessness Partnership. A very interesting discussion about the impact co-production has, particularly when people with lived experience are treated as equals.

Co-production is essentially where professionals and customers share power to plan and deliver support services together, recognising that both partners have a vital contribution to make. When services are genuinely co-produced, they work better because they make the most of the shared expertise of people who work in the service and the people who have experience of using them. Services that are co-produced generally have better ‘buy-in’ from the people using them – if the service is more closely matched to what people actually want then more can be achieved.

Using people with lived experience effectively gives people a role model and someone to empathise with. A very interesting discussion about the impact co-production has, particularly when people with lived experience are treated as equals.