Co-production is the word on everyone’s lips when it comes to progressive and innovative governance of any care company. That is why newly appointed CEO of Moorview Care, Julie Wells-Colley, with a 30 year career dedicated to social care under her belt, looked to the people they are currently supporting to disrupt their status quo and guide purposeful improvements.
18 months ago, Julie, and a small group of Moorview Care clients met to launch what has become known as ‘Moorview Matters’. Led by its appointed chairperson, the group consult on company activity from scrutinising business plans and marketing materials to writing interview questions for prospective Support Workers, and offering direct advice to their support team on how they can make changes to improve the care and support they receive.
It’s a powerful initiative for the people who really know best how they should be supported to share their ideas in this platform and the judges of The National Learning Disabilities and Autism Awards tend to agree. Moorview Matters Chairperson, Ryan, and Vice Chair, Dale, attended the awards event at the NEC in Birmingham in June along with their support team and were ecstatic to win ‘The Breaking Down Barriers Award’.
The judges commented that: “Moorview Care is a truly inclusive organisation with an inspirational leadership team that celebrates co-production to break down barriers and enhance the lives of the people they support. Although this was an extremely hard category to judge, Moorview Matters demonstrated their motivation for achieving their aim to break down those barriers and have already achieved so much in a short period of time. Well done and congratulations to this team!”
Established in 2000, Moorview Care began as a residential care home for adults with learning disabilities but soon evolved into predominantly supported living services. As a values-driven organisation, they pride themselves on their progressive approach. Director of People and Culture, Stacey Carr, was a finalist at the same national awards for the ‘Employer Award’ and Julie Wells-Colley was recognised as a finalist in the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ category.
Julie reflects: “Moorview Care has always been centred around the needs of the people we support to ensure the support they receive is something they both want and need. Co-producing services is a natural step to ensure that as a care provider, we are getting it right. From the very first meeting, I have been inspired and energised by the contribution, creativity and ideas shared at Moorview Matters. In a relatively brief period, they have become an established and recognised forum across Moorview Care.”
With their new accolade giving momentum to their already flourishing group, Moorview Matters plan to continue their work to provide a constant feedback loop to Moorview Care. The group recently coproduced a film with the Inclusive Learning and Development Team to support the rollout of The Oliver McGowen Training. They shared hard-hitting commentary on how it feels when they are not listened to and created a compelling argument for their team to undertake the training.
Other work includes the planning of an ’Extraordinary Co-production Event’ bringing clients and teams together to explore the definition of co-production and how this can be woven through everyday practices. The group have collaborated with University College London on their Family Community Living Project to share their experiences and drive change. Chairperson, Ryan, has even presented his own PBS plans to his support team giving ownership and context to the plans.
Next on the agenda is the delivery of training with the introduction of the initiative ‘Moorview Mentors’. Tiffany, a representative of Moorview Matters commented that: “nobody knows better than the individual with that condition”, and with this in mind Moorview Care is on the right track to achieving meaningful co-production.
