ACTIVE involvement in alcohol care: a community case study in coproduction

This is a descriptive case study of a public engagement group of people who have used alcohol care services. Involvement of people with lived and living experience is increasingly recognized as essential in health and social care policy. However, in alcohol care services, such involvement remains underdeveloped and sometimes tokenistic. This community case study outlines the establishment, development, and impact of the ACTIVE (Alcohol Care Team InVolvement and Engagement) group-a pioneering public and patient involvement and engagement (PPIE) initiative in alcohol care services across Merseyside and Cheshire (UK). The group was established through collaboration between the Programme for Alcohol Care and Treatment (PROACT, a regional public health network bringing together all alcohol care providers), public health commissioners (Champs Public Health Collaborative), and the Comensus PPIE model at the University of Lancashire. It was designed to create safe spaces for meaningful coproduction and deliberative democratic communication between people with lived experience, practitioners, and commissioners. ACTIVE has contributed to service design and evaluation. Additional impacts include supporting digital innovation, strengthening regional networks, influencing innovation, and enhancing workforce education. Members reported enhanced confidence, sense of value, and shared ownership of service development. The approach illustrates the replicable potential of sustained, well-resourced involvement of people with lived experience in alcohol care, having implications for policy, research, innovation, and service delivery nationally and internationally. The case study has been collectively authored utilizing notes of meetings and drawing upon contributions within a series of reflective meetings and exchanges of drafts.