ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the process used by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust in England to embed co-production in its use of Lean in healthcare. The Trust was in a challenging position and could have taken a defensive stance. Instead, the senior leadership team decided to invest in its Quality Improvement capacity, use a Lean approach, and promote openness and transparency.
Co-production is a concept that puts value on people’s experiences as well as their different perspectives and which is a good fit with the values inherent in the application of Lean in healthcare. There is no single model of co-production, but it is about everyone working together to agree on a shared vision. Within the care setting, it challenges the idea that service providers and professionals are the experts. It strives to empower patients, carers, and frontline staff to share their own expertise and experiences. Both process and context are important.
Co-production is humbling and requires thinking differently, shifting power to those that use services. There are times when it can be hard to set aside professional egos and to come to a shared understanding of what needs to be improved. Co-production must include the frontline staff, for there to be a real collaboration with the users of the service, both patients and carers. Staff should also feel empowered and supported to share their own valuable experiences and ideas. It is about bringing everybody together as equals – all empowered to contribute and tackle any issues for learning and improvements.
When that happens especially in quality improvement it can be profound and change the approach of an organisation. This chapter shares the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust’s journey along the path of Lean and co-production.
