This guidance will support commissioners to engage local communities and in doing so  develop and commission services that meet their needs.

Download Transforming Participation in Health and Care

The guidance includes a wide range of tools, resources and case studies that commissioners will find useful when developing their own responses.

The guidance aims to support NHS commissioners to:

• Make arrangements for and promote individual participation in care and treatment through commissioning activity.
• Make arrangements for the public to be engaged in governance arrangements by ensuring that the CCG governing body includes at least two lay people.
• Listen and act upon patient and carer feedback at all stages of the commissioning cycle – from needs assessment to contract management.
• Publish evidence of what ‘patient and public voice’ activity has been conducted, its impact and the difference it has made.
• Engage with patients, carers and the public when redesigning or reconfiguring healthcare services, demonstrating how this has informed decisions.
• Publish the feedback they receive from local Healthwatch about health and care services in their locality.