“Lived experience” appears in more NHS and ICB tenders because commissioners want assurance that services are designed with people, not only for people, and that feedback changes delivery over time. Meanwhile, NHS England describes co-production as working in equal partnership with people who use services, carers and communities, engaging them early in design, development and evaluation.
The most common scoring problem is not the intent. It’s that bids describe engagement as a set of activities, but do not show how lived experience influences decisions, delivery and measures.
This guide uses a simple “do this, not that” format, plus short rewrite examples you can drop into responses.
ICBs and ICS partners are expected to agree how they will listen consistently to, and collectively act on, the experience and aspirations of local people and communities.
In tender terms, that often means evaluators want to see four things:
If you want the broader context behind why this is rising up the agenda, see our page on NHS commissioning and ICB changes.
Avoid: “We will engage service users throughout the contract.”
Do this instead: state the moments where feedback changes the service, for example:
NHS England positions co-production as partnership “from the earliest stages” through design, development and evaluation, which supports making involvement visible at key decision points.
Avoid: “We held three focus groups.”
Do this instead: explain how you reached the people most affected by the service, especially where inequalities are a priority.
If your service is expected to tackle inequalities, it can help to reference an established framing like Core20PLUS5 and then show what it means in recruitment and outreach, rather than leaving it as a label.
Avoid: “We will gather feedback and continuously improve.”
Do this instead: specify:
Avoid: “We will invite service users to meetings.”
Do this instead: explain the role and the decision rights, for example:
NICE’s guidance on patient experience focuses on aspects such as knowing the patient as an individual, continuity of care and enabling people to participate in decisions.
In bids, translate that into practical commitments like:
“We will co-produce the service with patients and communities.”
“We will use co-production to shape three parts of delivery that matter most to access and outcomes: (1) how people enter the service and what support is offered at first contact, (2) the outreach approach for groups with lower uptake or higher drop-out, and (3) how we define and review outcomes by cohort. We will review lived experience insight monthly, publish actions taken, and adjust delivery when variation persists.”
“We will work with the voluntary sector to ensure community voice is heard.”
“We will work with VCSE partners to reach people who are routinely missed by standard referral routes. VCSE insight will inform our communications, access routes and outreach locations, and we will review this alongside service data and experience feedback. Where VCSE partners identify barriers, we will agree practical changes and track whether those changes improve uptake, experience and outcomes.”
“We will ensure the service is inclusive for all groups.”
“We will remove barriers to access by providing multiple entry routes, accessible communications, and tailored support for people who face digital exclusion, language barriers or low trust in services. We will track uptake, non-attendance and outcomes by cohort, and we will implement changes when gaps remain.”
If you’re already planning cohort-based reporting, the approach in our guide to population health, segmentation and inequalities fits naturally alongside this.
Keep this lightweight. Evaluators rarely need a long narrative, but they do need proof.
A useful reference point for commissioning-focused involvement is the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration toolkit on patient and public involvement in commissioning, which is aimed at NHS and local authority staff working on commissioning decisions.
If you are delivering across different geographies, start by ensuring you have a solid understanding of NHS commissioning footprints.
“We will embed lived experience and community voice into service design and ongoing improvement through structured co-production. People with lived experience, carers and community partners will shape access routes, communications, outreach and outcome definitions, with clear review points and decision rights. We will review insight monthly alongside service data, with actions recorded, reported and implemented where barriers persist. We will evidence impact through changes in uptake, experience and outcomes by cohort, supported by ‘you said, we did’ reporting.”
We help healthcare bidders turn involvement and co-production into clear, scorable tender content, including practical governance, evidence trails and measurable outcomes. If you want an evaluator-style check on whether your lived experience approach is specific enough, healthcare bid review and marking can help. For earlier-stage support on approach and positioning, NHS and ICB bid strategy consultancy is often the fastest way to tighten the logic.
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