Community Care Live speech from TLAP Co-production member - Kemyn Whervin

This year's Community Care Live conference , gave Kemyn Whervin, a member of TLAP's Co-production Group, the opportunity to talk about her experiences as a carer, an active member of Solihull's Making it Real Expert by Experience Group and other peer challenge initiatives. Her speech offers first hand pointers of how to practice co-production - "It's not a consultation process", "Outcomes should meaningful, positive and non tokenistic".

"Good Afternoon.

I feel so excited and privileged to be speaking today to a room of social workers as I feel we have such common ground and aspirations.

Back ground.

My name is Keymn Whervin and I have been the main carer for my mother for 15 years. My mother Elsie is 72 years old and suffered a stroke which resulted in her losing her speech and being paralysed on her right hand side. I also am the mother to two young children who are three and six years old.

Like most carers I became a carer in a split second and I didn't recognise myself as a carer. I was 21 at the time and I was visiting mom during Christmas break from uni. Little did I know that Boxing Day 2009 would change the path of my own life and my families forever? My life was very dependent on my mom, she supported me through uni both financially and emotionally. No longer could I turn to her for advice; she was vulnerable and had to rely on me.

My journey in Adult Social Care has been one of both poor and excellent services, so I know what a good service looks like. My experience of finally receiving excellent services came when I had two stable social workers , Mandy Hannigan my carers support worker and Michelle Bedow my moms social worker. The difference these two angels made in my life enabled me to gain my confidence and recognise that my life and aspirations are important too. Without their expertise I would not have got to the point where I thought I would cope with caring for bother mother and my children.

The social workers would always let me know in advance when changes would happen so I could plan ahead, they worked on our support plans together and it was more like we were a team rather than me being the person that uses services. We learnt so much from one another and created a relationship and understanding. This made the review process more efficient in regards to our time.

18 months ago I was approached by Solihull Adult Social Care, it was one of those phone calls where the person on the other end says this is not a joke so please do not hang up. When you are contacted by adult social services the first thing that happens is that your heart starts to skip beats and you think what service do I have to fit around now? What took place next changed my life for the better. I was asked to join Solihull's Making it Real (MIR) expert by experience group and the purpose of the group was to bring my expertise of being a carer to the council and I would be rewarded for my time. This then enabled me to network, I then also became a member National Co- production advisory group and a member of the NHS Patient Online working together group.

I have been able to acquire new skills, develop my confidence and start up a user-led organisation called Peer Partnership which will specialise in Peer to Peer Support Planning. It just shows how co-production in my case can help me to self direct myself and contribute to community capacity building while also helping to shape the market. All things the Care Act says should happen. I am no longer surviving for life now I am striving.

Next we come to the whys what's and how's of co-production.

So what is real co-production?

Co production happens when everybody works together on an equal basis to create a service or come to a decision which works for them all. Carers and people who use services should be involved in the process right from the start of an idea straight through to the end of an idea. This means them sitting at the table at every meeting like everyone else. This is built on the principle that those who use a service are best placed to help design it.

Example

Training newly qualified social workers.- I have recently started training newly qualified social workers with officers from the career development department in the council. We work together to deliver a session to newly qualified social workers. It's the opportunity for them to ask people who use services questions and gain a greater understanding of the good and not so good points of our experience. At the same time we can share information about the ways we use Direct Payments and the types of services we use in the community.

West Mids Peer Challenges- I have participated in six West Midlands Peer Challenges, it's been like a crash course in understanding how social services work. I am treated as an equal team member working with directors and senior staff and as a team it is up to us to triangulate our findings from evidence we have collected about a local authority. This is a unique way of working as the team spends four days together and I am not sure where else you would find carers and people who use services working close together to achieve an outcome. It enables them to start thinking differently too.

Why Coproduction?

Everyone gets the chance to have a voice.

Using carers, people who use services, providers and the community enables professionals to deliver services local people want to see. Making decisions together brings a sense of ownership especially with tough decisions.

Example

Shropshire have a model where social workers and people who use services work together to facilitate individuals in writing and reviewing their support plans, it's called people to people. This gives the experience of the professional whilst offering peer support from someone with life experience. (I've seen this work).

What is important for co-production?

People must be treated as equals in order to get the best out of them.
Outcomes should meaningful, positive and non tokenistic.
Having people that support co-production and ensuring they are not bogged down with processes.

HOW?

Everyone involved should participate in learning sessions to broaden their knowledge which helps to build confidence and the ability to challenge whilst creating relationships.
Set up and abide by Codes of conduct.
Find a way of paying people for their time, pay them participation fees or pay them with vouchers . Also pay travel costs so they can participate.
Give frontline staff the opportunity to participate in co-production activities after all you are the eyes and ears of the organisation and know how to build relationships with people who use services. Ask to be involved.
Carers and people who use services are their own commissioners so take note of what they are doing and see how this information is kept and used for the future shaping of services.
Have a support system for people who use services so they can develop their skills Emails, chairing etc.
When participating in co-production activities champion the work of the group and record achievements and activities.
TLAP- Making It Real section- check their website often as it is regularly updated with self assessment tools for carers and people who use services.

Ensure meeting points are accessible to all.

Example

I am the vice chair of Solihull's carers partnership board. Three experts and myself with different caring backgrounds had a sub group co-write the carers strategy with the carers lead.

Local Account Experts - Two experts wrote the local account in order to make it jargon free and legible to the public.

NCAG-TLAP ensures that a member of the National co production group sits on every work stream that happens in the organisation so a user perspective is always being voiced.

Direct Payments - Experts visit people who use services and family and advise how to use Direct Payments so that they have choice and control.

Conclusion

To sum up co-production-

Take time when implementing co-production it's not straight forward.

Feel capable and motivated for what is required when embedding co-production.
The new ways of working for user-led controlled organisations can be an opportunity for social workers to be employed so they are working alongside people who use services.
Co-production enables professionals to use different ways of engaging in a meaningful way. It can also be an efficient and cost effective process for the organisation.
It's not a consultation process; people who use services have the skills and experience to deliver public and voluntary services. People have assets which can improve services.
When it comes to co-production Professionals need to hand over control and take more risks. The Care Act gives the right opportunity to do this, don't let this be a missed opportunity.
It's a process where results tend to be more focused on preventative outcomes which are long term.
And to finish off co-production builds a process which enables services to be delivered with better outcomes."