The benefits of involvement

Individual and community benefits

• Services are more suited to our needs – with better interactions, our quality of life improves and our experiences are more pleasant.
• Wellbeing is improved – feeling heard, included and involved in what affects us can have a positive impact on our health.
• Improved social connectedness – new connections are opened up outside organisational roles, breaking down siloes and allowing more people access to a better quality of life.

Organisation and system benefits

• The change will be more effective – and better suited to the needs of the people it will affect.
• The change will have greater longevity – because the people involved take ownership of it, and hold and maintain it longer because it feels like it’s ‘theirs’.
• The process will be more efficient – tapping into the skills, knowledge and experience of a wider range of people, and taking less time to reach solutions.
• The change will be more widely accepted – because a wider group has been consulted, the final output better reflects the needs of the people who will use the output.
• Unplanned benefits will occur – co-production can catalyse organic, unplanned new activity, with groups forming and new projects and initiatives following.