NEW ARTICLE THREAD: we propose there's value in considering #codesign in healthcare improvement as: (1) a means of developing & utilising a form of common pool resource (2) an approach that could utilise Ostrom’s design principles for working in groups 1/8
https://www.ijic.org/articles/10.5334/ijic.5569/

So, co-design can be seen as a way of bringing together relevant stakeholders throughout a system (e.g., health & social care) to *pool* resources (e.g., experiential knowledge, labour, funding) in creative & constructive interactions – thus creating new common pool resources 2/8

Reframing co-design in this way helps to highlight (i) who needs to be involved in co-designing healthcare improvement, (ii) what the limits and possibilities are for co-creating value, and (iii) why and how such efforts should be sustained 3/8

Re-conceptualising co-design as a means to create common pool resources can help us think about how co-design projects fit into polycentric systems - that is, a system that has multiple organisations involved in managing and delivering something, e.g., health & social care 4/8

Doing so could increase the impact of co-design on & within systems rather than being limited to short term service improvement (as is often the case). It would support co-designing sustainable structures to enable ongoing coordination among relevant groups 5/8

We argue that Ostrom's conceptualisation of common pool resources and polycentricity, and the related 8 design principles, can help us to achieve these aims and to both promote and normalise co-design as a way of working. We think this is important because... 6/8

Unless co-design improves the efficiency, effectiveness and/or ethics of existing practice it's unlikely this way of working will be sufficiently resourced, sustained and/or widely adopted. We conceptualise these negative outcomes as part of potential 'tragedies of co-design' 7/8

These are new ideas we've been considering as part of our wider work on participatory methodologies, co-production, and co-design. So, have a read and let us know what you think. We'd be really interested to hear your thoughts so please do share them 8/8