There are two really fascinating briefings from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on user partcipation and networks. One focuses on local governance and the other is based around using the knowledge of users (e.g. in health or social services)
The user briefing raised an issue in my mind I hadn't thought about in a while. For some years, there has been a lot of talk about trust and government or trust and professionals. How much do the general public or individuals trust their doctor, their local politician, their social worker, etc. JRF found that:
Service users feel that their knowledge is generally not valued or taken
seriously by professionals, policy-makers and services. The closed culture of
health and social care services and their own inadequate resources restrict
service users' capacity to develop and share their knowledge
But this is really about trust in another direction. How much do professionals trust us to choose the right treatment or package of services? How much are we trusted as a neighbourhood or community to know how we want to run our park or choose the right transport plan. Trust is a two-way street.
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