Co-production of a regional approach to community engagement in health and care research in the North East and North Cumbria

This chapter focusses on developments in the North East and North Cumbria (NENC) that strove to create more opportunities for seldom heard groups and communities to be active partners in health and care research. We focus specifically on co-production with the voluntary and community sectors, summarising the context that influenced a collective drive to do things differently. Two local voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations share their insights and experiences. We outline a series of regional developments that aimed to address key issues associated with involving communities and VCSE organisations in research and focus on improving relationships and growing more meaningful opportunities that benefit people, communities and the VCSE sector, as well as improving the quality of research. Finally, we share some of our key learning and messages for others looking to support and develop new ways of working with communities and VCSE organisations to develop meaningful, reciprocal, and sustainable partnerships in research.