‘Standing up for my human rights’: a group’s journey beyond consultation towards co‐production

Accessible summary•  Our health service ran a group to support people to stand up for their human rights. •  People with learning disabilities have their own stories to tell about human rights. •  Group members created a character called FREDA (fairness, respect, equality, dignity, autonomy) to understand how human rights laws affect their lives. •  The group did not follow its original plan. The group shared their own knowledge and experiences with each other. Acting on what people in the group wanted was most important. Written by Tina O’Connor 1Summary Service user inclusion is a key component of a human rights‐based approach to healthcare and models of inclusion are developing rapidly. This article describes work with a group of NHS service users, designed to increase their knowledge of human rights, as part of a broader set of initiatives focussing on changing organisational culture. During a mutual learning journey, ‘co‐production’ emerged as a preferred model for promoting service user’s understandings of human rights. ‘Co‐production’, or sharing service design and delivery more equally with service users, led to outcomes that were initially inconceivable. During the group, co‐production appeared to be a vehicle for resolving dilemmas about services ‘empowering’ service users. This article considers how, when service user involvement and a HRBA are combined, a move away from tokenism towards collaboration, empowerment and redistribution of power is possible.