Co-production

Co-production has been a cornerstone of IMPACT from the very beginning. Our vision and values, built around responsive, recovery-focused care in the least restrictive setting, as close to home as possible, were developed through co-production with staff, service users, families and carers.

IMPACT also see's Co-production as a method of recovery. Every service user, wherever they are on their recovery journey, deserves real power over their care.

Our approach is built around three interconnected circles of co-production, each reflecting a different dimension of empowerment:

Influencing Your Own Care (Power Within)

For many people in secure settings, feeling safe and stable comes first. Once that foundation is in place, service users are supported to have a meaningful say in their care plans, their ward life, and the everyday decisions that affect them. Co-production at this level is personal - it is about agency, voice, and dignity.

Connecting People Together (Power With)

As service users grow more stable, co-production becomes a way to build relationships, trust, and creativity. We know that getting on in life depends on developing networks and connections. At this level, we see creative projects that foster collective conversations that influence ward life and start to connect with other wards in the units.

Influencing Services (Power To)

When service users begin to understand the broader context of their situation, their lived experience becomes a powerful catalyst for change. At this level, service users contribute on equal footing with senior leaders in decision-making - joining our Service User Reference Group (SURG), co-producing solutions, deciding where money is spent, and helping to design care pathways that reflect what people actually need.

 

"Service users involvement matters as we are the people who have to live with the decisions. It is our journey. Co-production allowed us to get about and (virtually) see and hear about the different units, hear what works, what doesn't and work together to find solutions. Service User's voice"
 

What we are doing now

Across all three circles of co-production, we have adopted the Lundy Model of Participation. Originally developed as a rights-based framework to ensure children's voices are genuinely heard, we have adapted it for use in adult secure settings. Just as children can too easily be overlooked in decisions that affect their lives, so too can people in secure care. Both groups deserve more than tokenistic consultation; they deserve space, voice, audience, and influence. The Lundy Model gives IMPACT a structured, principled way to make that happen.

In practice, this means:

• Service users at the table in IMPACT's governance - our Service User Reference Group (SURG) ensures that lived experience has a direct voice at the heart of decision-making
• Deciding where funding is spent - through the Direct Development Fund on the Women's Secure Transformation Pathway, service users awarded funding to improve their ward environments
• Reviewing least restrictive practices - working with service users to scrutinise and challenge practices that may unnecessarily limit freedom and autonomy
• Patient Stories in Board Meetings - ensuring that lived experiences are heard by those with the greatest power to act on them
• A Co-production Leaders Network for staff - building the skills, confidence and shared understanding needed to make co-production genuinely transformative across our providers
• Growing our work with carers - recognising that families and carers are essential partners in recovery, and developing meaningful ways to include their voices
• Service user-led environment reviews - Staff are only spending time here, for the patients, this is our home. Service User Voice

Interested in our co-production approach? Contact IMPACT's Co-production Manager, Jacob Brown: Jacob.brown@nottshc.nhs.uk