Do With
A call to action
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Radical and hopeful change in how public services work with people and communities is urgently needed. Do With is a network of people and organisations calling for a radical shift in the public sector from ‘doing to’ to ‘doing with’.
We have come together to ask others to join us in making this change starting with an online event on 26 March.
Sign up to our event or contact the Do With team to find out more about becoming part of the movement.
There are already great examples of this positive change happening across the country. Change that:
enables individuals, families and communities from many backgrounds to work as equals alongside frontline workers in the health and care sector, councils, schools, the police and other services
shares power and resource, opens up decision-making, and improves the places where we live
taps into the power of our communities and human relationships to prevent illness, crisis and poverty rather than just respond to it
directly addresses, through collaboration, the growing pressures being placed on the public and voluntary sectors that are driving up waiting times, reducing service quality and pushing public finances to breaking point
most fundamentally, does things with rather than to people and communities while also freeing and resourcing them to do more for themselves on their own terms.
But we also know that there is huge resistance to these ways of working across the public sector. A resistance that:
leaves those who work in or with public services feeling powerless and frustrated
deepens the excessive hierarchy and the discrimination that silences the voices of frontline workers and the people and communities they work with
maintains the overwhelming focus on top–down performance targets and financial ‘efficiencies’ rather than actual improvements in people’s health and well-being
keeps public services siloed and often in competition with one another rather than providing holistic, seamless care and support through collaboration
and, most importantly, sustains a culture that strongly favours doing things to rather than with people.
We know our hopes, as well as our frustrations, are shared very widely. That is why we call on those working in or with the public sector to take inspiration from the positive change already happening and actively explore how we can all make it happen in our own work.
Join the movement
Join us on 26 March to mobilise our collective voice to effect a radical and urgent shift in the way public services work.
We want to hear from people working in or with the public sector. The event will provide a space for those attending to share ideas on how to deliver change and to connect people together who want to work on specific ideas.
We are also asking those inspired by Do With ways of working to share their views on how change can be brought about and their experience of trying to work differently. You will have an opportunity to share your views when you register for the event or you can email: [email protected].
Supporting networks
We look forward to working with you and the many others who know that a better public sector and a happier, healthier population is within our grasp. If you'd like to join the network as organisation or individual contact: [email protected]
Better Way Network; Care City; Caribbean & African Health Network (CAHN); Community Led Support (NDTi); DemocracyNext; Florence Nightingale Foundation; Healthwatch; Intelligent Health; Involve; Local Trust; Locality; NAVCA; National Voices; New Local; NHS Horizons; Nutriri; OUTpatients; Patients Association; Platform Places; Power to Change; Sickle Cell Society; Social Care Futures; Social Enterprise UK; The Health Creation Alliance; The King’s Fund; TransActual; We’re Right Here.
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