Human togetherness: the role and impact of citizen-sourced collective co-production in National Health Service (NHS) procurement

In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic upended our daily lives placing restrictions on travel, social gatherings at home and even a ban on attending live events. While many employees made the transition to working from home, citizens were also adopting a new civic responsibility to safely participate in a new social paradigm. Projects flourished into initiatives of co-creation to collectively ‘flatten the curve’ and support groups most affected by the virus and lockdown measures. This seemingly creative approach created new forms of social experiences and resilience, which sparked change in citizen response on a collective level, presenting many opportunities for organizations who could adapt by creating the right conditions for temporary collaborations. However, a shift like this can pose new challenges for organizations, particularly if they must reorientate their internal behaviour, customer engagement and business models to effect positive change. Through a reflexive thematic analysis (RTA), this report explores some of the critical success factors of the citizen-sourced collective co-production process that replaced traditional procurement processes within the management of external resources within the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. The findings reveal how the NHS was able to pivot and overcome disrupted supply chains and unprecedented shortages in the sourcing of scrubs for frontline healthcare workers. It discusses the importance of emotional motivators, flattened hierarchies, open-door policy, and digital communication, as well as speed and agility in inciting and fostering public service collaborations.