Meaningful Co-Production and Engagement across Derby/Derbyshire

The Derby and Derbyshire Autism Partnership Board (APB) has been established for 10 years, has an autistic co-chair and good representation from commissioners, health, providers, parents, and Experts by Experience (EbE’s). Derbyshire County Council support the APB with Derbyshire Autism Service providing an autism friendly meeting room when required. The APB previously supported and monitored the development of the Joint Autism Strategy and signed off the Autism Self-Assessment return.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic the APB was an in-person quarterly meeting.  Following national lockdown, it was agreed to cancel the March 2020 meeting; the first time this had happened in ten years. All parties agreed to continue the meetings via Microsoft Teams. A surprising outcome has been a significant growth in the membership of the APB, mainly from autistic people and their family and carers.  

We have been able to embark on significant engagement and co-production around new training materials, information and awareness literature and the development of the new Joint Derbyshire Autism Strategy.  

Continuing to develop and support the ongoing work of the APB during a pandemic, whilst growing the support, membership, and breadth of the APB to enable meaningful co-production and engagement with autistic people across Derby and Derbyshire.

The APB agreed to support the development of a separate Expert by Experience sub-group which feeds into the regular board meetings, to ensure we capture the voice of all our members. This also allows EbE time and space to express their views in a smaller group. This group continues to grow in membership and has chosen to meet quarterly, in line with the Board meetings and will only be supported by a professional who will help facilitate the group. 

In 2019 there were 20 members of the Autism Partnership Board, four were Experts by Experience, one of whom was the co-chair. At a recent meeting in 2022 there were 46 members, 16 of whom were Experts by Experience.

The group has also extended its membership to include more partners from the providers and services such as, social workers, Intensive Support Team, health commissioners, DWP member, children’s social care commissioners, parent and carer representatives, and representatives from small voluntary sector providers.

Using this approach has empowered the voices of the EbE, enabling them to be heard and directly influence the development of our new All-Age Joint Derbyshire Autism Strategy. 

The group have been directly involved and co-produced the development of the five priorities that were most impactful for autistic people.  These include:

• Providing an earlier diagnosis
• Increasing preventative services
• Having a stronger professional peer support offer
• Increasing meaningful employment opportunities
• Delivering training that goes beyond awareness raising

These priorities are equally important and they all feed into each other.

The APB continues to attract new membership and support.  As membership has grown, it became evident that we needed a channel for the voices of our Experts by Experience. The group is supported by one professional, and this will ensure its smooth running and sustainability.

The APB does not hold a budget to pay non-salaried EbE’s who support and participate with the work, but it will be looking at ways to address such issues as part of the system-wide workplan.

It is imperative that there is a channel whereby we can capture the voices, feedback and views of our autistic people and to enable them to be able to access meaningful engagement and co-production opportunities, as we continue to develop our services and support for autistic people.

Jane Robins commissioning Service Manager Autism

Email: [email protected]

Craig Kennady Co-chair Expert by Experience

Email: [email protected]

Links

Relevant documents on Derbyshire County Council's website