As part of the workshop sessions, both providers and officers were invited to discuss and debate a series of statements about how they perceived each other. These statements were based on comments both parties had previously made about each other, as observed by the authors of this report, in a variety of situations and settings. Both sides were invited to explore why they thought each of the perceptions had come about; whether they were in fact true; and whether they applied to all groups of providers and officers. 

By consensus, it was agreed that each of the statements had an element of truth but were probably based upon only a partial awareness of each other's worlds and past experiences. Putting aside the extent to which any of these statements are actually true or not, collectively they seem to suggest the following:

• Providers overall feel ECC has a pretty negative view of them and they certainly don't feel part of the care system as whole; and
• ECC officers, whilst overall holding a less consistent view of providers, seem to have two dominant perceptions. Firstly, differing views about the type of relationship ECC needs/wants with providers. Secondly, there is a significant level of mistrust about providers based on perceptions about money, quality and business acumen.

Overall, we feel this exercise also reveals the extent to which ECC is quite autocratic and dominant as a partner and this is a 'state of mind' that is pretty entrenched and will need to change if ECC and providers are to work more in partnership in the future.

Moving forward, it was suggested that these perceptions would need to be challenged if both sides wanted to make efforts to improve on how they worked together. It was felt important that past experiences should not inform future thoughts as progress was made in improving relationships.