Reflections on making co-production work: the reality of coproduction from an insider perspective

This article explores the key areas by which an academic book was co-produced with people from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences. Co-production is often now presented as a common-sense shift to delivering public services (Paget 2014; Durose et al. 2017), with a distinct trend towards co-production in the UK in recent decades (Pieroudis et al. 2019). The book referred to was explicitly written with coproduction at its heart, with 20 people involved in its writing: 3 editors and 17 coauthors. Of that group 16 identified as white and 4 from minority ethnic backgrounds,
and ages ranged from 25 - 80+, 12 identified as female and 8 as male. This is a collaborative approach to understanding the lived experiences of service users and carers, providing a unique opportunity to consider the reality of co-production from an insider perspective.