At the recent PHN Commissioning and Innovations Showcase in Newcastle participants shared news about the very significant progress PHNs had made nationally in the development of expertise in co-design.
There was universal agreement that co-design should be adopted as part of our modus-operandi as reflective of the ethos of PHNs.
We were amused however when it was noted that the use of “co” was something of a tautology. Of course health system redesign is a collaborative undertaking.
But as our masterful facilitator Jay Rebbeck pointed out Co-Design is “a thing” denoting that reasons exist for our adoption of this term.
Having worked in health in every state on the eastern seabord I am mindful that each jurisdiction has a different tradition in terms of the involvement of the public in policy formulation and decision- making. No doubt this has been the subject of academic discourse for decades. The insight is that some PHNs will need to work harder than others to inject the ‘Co’ into the Co-Design principle.
Thought starters:
- What tradition does your region have in public participation in civil society?
- How does this play out in your efforts to empower patients and consumers to get involved in co-design activities?
- Do you use co-design selectively or is it something you apply to all your commissioning activities regardless. If so, why?
phnchannel.blog 