Innovative conference for the community goes online this week

People from all over the county are being brought together by a series of online events marking co-production week.

The co-production programme of work first began in Oxfordshire back in 2017. The aim of it is to encourage closer working relationships with people who receive care and support and their families in equal partnerships and make this the usual way of working both in adult social care and beyond.

The event, which was originally planned as a festival on 7 July, is now being marked online with a varied programme of events throughout the week (6 to 10 July), based on the theme of collaboration in the time of crisis’.

This is the second annual event to be held in Oxfordshire following last July’s inaugural co-production festival as part of the national co-production week.

The council has collaborated with a range of different organisations both locally and nationally to put together an existing schedule of events, featuring online workshops and much more.

Jo Barnicoat, parent of a young adult with severe learning difficulties and autism, is working with the council as co-chair of the Oxfordshire’s team-up co-production board. She said "the board is excited to be working to bring together both those that need to use the services of social care alongside those that provide the service in an open and transparent manner to achieve the best outcomes for the most vulnerable in our society. Those who need assistance are the experts: health and social care need to work with them, listen and learn in order to be effective”

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) supported and evaluated the first two years of this programme. They are publishing their report on 7 July - during national co-production week.

SCIE says that Oxfordshire has made ‘significant progress’ on all the aims of the programme and is a ‘leading council in co-production’.

Karen Fuller, deputy director of adult social care, said “we’re delighted that SCIE has recognised the significant progress that has bene made on how we work in Oxfordshire with those who receive care and support, and their families. It’s vital that we listen to peoples desired outcomes and work with them to design services tailored to them. Working together across communities has been more important than ever during the Covid-19 pandemic so this week could not have come at a better time.”

More information, including a programme of events, is available here.