Strategic Co-Production & Advisory
Work with Experts by Experience while policies, pathways and change programmes are still being designed.
LENs supports health and social care organisations to co-design work with people who understand services from the receiving end. We can facilitate workshops, help design governance, support service redesign, contribute to evaluation planning and bring lived experience into boards, steering groups and programme meetings.
The organisational need
Lived experience is often requested after the main decisions have already been made. At that point, people may be asked to comment on a finished plan rather than help shape the thinking behind it.
Strategic co-production starts earlier. It creates a defined role for Experts by Experience in the design, governance and review of the work. This allows professional, operational and lived experience perspectives to sit together while options are still open.
What the service includes
LENs can design and facilitate sessions that bring Experts by Experience together with leaders, practitioners and other stakeholders. The purpose, decision points and expected outputs are agreed before the session.
We can help define how lived experience will be represented in the work, where advice or decisions will be recorded and how people will hear what happened after they contributed.
Experts by Experience can contribute to the development or review of policies, pathways and change programmes. This may include areas such as discharge, admission and waiting-list experience where they are relevant to the brief.
LENs can bring lived experience into the questions, options and practical decisions involved in redesigning a service. The scope will define which parts of the redesign are open to influence.
We can help the organisation think through what success would look like and how lived experience should be reflected in the way progress is reviewed. Any measures and reporting responsibilities will be agreed in writing.
Experts by Experience can take part in the groups overseeing the work. Their role, authority, preparation and expected contribution will be set out in the scope.
Clear boundaries
Co-production is not a label for a one-off request for feedback. It requires people with relevant lived experience to be involved early enough to influence the work, with an agreed role and a route for their contribution to reach decisions. Where a single consultation or event is more appropriate, LENs can recommend a different service.
Who participates
LENs supplies Experts by Experience for the agreed work. The organisation brings the leaders, practitioners and stakeholders responsible for the policy, pathway, service or programme.
The written scope explains who is involved, which decisions are open, what authority each group holds, how contributions are recorded and what support or access arrangements are needed. It leaves room to adapt as the work develops.
Delivery process
We start with a call about the policy, pathway, service or programme and the decisions that need lived experience input. LENs helps separate the questions that are genuinely open from matters that have already been decided.
Together, we decide whether the work needs workshops, advisory input, meeting participation, governance design, service redesign support or a combination of LENs services.
LENs prepares a proposal covering the purpose, people involved, decision points, responsibilities, activities and outputs. The scope also states how contributions will reach the people responsible for the work.
LENs supports the agreed workshops, meetings or advisory work. Experts by Experience contribute within the remit, while facilitators keep the discussion connected to the decisions being made.
Outputs are brought back in the agreed format. The organisation can then confirm what it will take forward, what needs further work and how it will report back to the people involved.
Deliverables
Depending on the agreed scope, the current LENs offer supports:
The exact combination will depend on the work and the decisions that remain open.
Safeguards and participation
LENs will agree the practical arrangements before delivery. These can include preparation, access needs, confidentiality, meeting boundaries, support and routes for raising a concern. The organisation also needs to be clear about what can change and who holds the final decision.
Common questions
If your question is more specific, tell us about the work and we can discuss it directly.
Ask a questionConsultation usually asks people to comment on a proposal or set of options. Co-production involves people earlier and gives them an agreed role in shaping the work. The right approach depends on what is genuinely open to influence.
Contact LENs while the policy, pathway or programme is still being developed. The earlier conversation helps identify where lived experience can influence the work and where decisions have already been made.
Yes. Participation in boards, steering groups and programme meetings forms part of the current service offer. The role and practical arrangements will be agreed in the scope.
Yes. Service-redesign support can be included where lived experience needs to inform the questions, options or practical design of a service. The brief will define which areas are in scope.
Yes. Evaluation planning and outcomes support form part of the service. LENs can help your team consider what success should look like and how lived experience should appear in the review of progress.
Yes. Research can inform the co-production work, while an advisory board can provide continuity after a particular programme or redesign stage. LENs can scope the services together.
No. If the main decisions are already fixed, a consultation, engagement or testing service may be more honest and useful. LENs will talk through the options before recommending an approach.
Related services
Next step
Share the policy, pathway, service or programme you are working on. LENs will help identify where lived experience can influence the work, recommend the right form of involvement and put the proposed scope in writing.