Adult Social Care Local Account 2024/25

In 2025, Inclusion North supported Gateshead Council in the co-design of our Adult Social Care Co-production Framework, Working Together for Change. Adult Social Care is fully committed to co-production and to listening to the voices of people with lived experience.  Co-production is about making sure people who use services have a role in designing and developing them. It is about creating an equal partnership between people who use services and those that provide them.   People are experts in their own lives. Everyone can bring unique skills, ideas and experiences to help shape and improve our services. We want to celebrate that our people and communities are creative and will fight for what's right. 

Co-Production principles:

1. People are valuable: People who use services have unique skills and experiences. They are vital contributors to change not 'service users with issues'
2. Build people up: Individuals and communities are supported to best use, grow and develop their skills and abilities
3. Promotes two way relationships: Values all people equally. Encourages professionals and people in the community to work together for more gain
4. Grows and values networks: Values personal and professional networks and supports people to create and grow them
5. Shared responsibility: Challenges the traditional boundary between professionals who deliver services and those that use them
6. Facilitating not delivering: Professionals who usually deliver services need to act as facilitators. Their role is to support people so the co-production process runs smoothly

In Gateshead, we also want co-production to be:

• every step of the way - Involving people from beginning to end
• making change happen - Acting to create positive change
• working together - Involving everyone who needs to be, to find solutions together
• constant improvement - constantly looking at what's working, what's not and making things better
• celebrating diversity - recognising that different solutions work for different people - everyone brings something to the table