Harnessing the power of communities to create more equitable services

Our recent ‘Designing Better Health Services: Leading People and Neighbourhoods’ highlighted how meaningful involvement of people and communities is essential to creating effective, equitable health services.

Speakers showcased practical examples of co‑design, community engagement, and patient‑informed innovation that directly support the ambitions of the NHS 10‑Year Plan, including stronger patient voice, digital empowerment, prevention, and reducing inequalities.

Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber emphasised the NHS’s commitment to embedding patient voice in service design and using digital tools to support personalised care, setting a clear foundation for the session’s focus on authentic involvement.

Healthwatch Leeds demonstrated how listening directly to people leads to rapid improvements such as changes to NHS 111 mental health crisis support, showing the impact of real-time insight on service quality and safety. 

Presentations from Scarborough Coastal Health and Care Research Collaborative (SHARC) and Sheffield Hallam University highlighted how community‑led research and trusted local relationships can reduce inequalities and strengthen early intervention, core aims of the NHS plan. Their work shows that when communities shape solutions, change becomes both meaningful and sustainable.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals outlined how statutory responsibilities for public involvement under the Health and Care Act 2022 are put into practice through proportionate and meaningful engagement. Using the Walk‑In Centre re‑procurement as an example, they demonstrated how patient insight shapes decisions at every level from addressing accessibility and digital exclusion to meeting cultural and linguistic needs.

Speakers from Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber also showed how co-design improves innovation. The Be Mindful Workplace project demonstrated how involving disabled people transformed a digital wellbeing tool into something accessible, inclusive, and genuinely useful, providing useful insights from Linda who has lived experience and has been involved in the project directly. Similarly, the National Pathology Imaging Co-operative (NPIC) illustrated how public involvement guides safe, transparent adoption of digital and AI‑enabled pathology services across England, aligning with national goals for data‑driven care.

Finally, we heard an excellent use case of the Patient Insight Framework from Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber MedTech Funding Mandate Lead Adam Smith, on how it has supported the adoption of APOS across musculoskeletal services. The framework provides a practical approach to embed lived experience into spread and adoption plans ensuring innovations meet real patient needs and improve outcomes across pathways. 

Key Takeaways

1. Authentic involvement is essential

Lived experience must shape design, delivery and improvement for services to work in the real world.

2. Co‑production gets results

From digital tools to early‑years support and urgent care pathways, co‑designed solutions improve access, experience, safety and equity.

3. This is exactly what the NHS 10‑Year Plan calls for

Stronger patient voice, prevention, accessible digital tools, and reduced inequalities were reflected across every example shared.