Upcoming tender: Work with us to embed community participation and co-production across the health system
On 6 August, the NHS Race and Health Observatory (NHS RHO) will be launching a tender to commission the creation of a new, open-access resource enabling community participation and co-production with Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic patients, communities, and staff across the NHS and the health system.
Currently, we know that the health system’s community participation and co-production practice with Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic people remains at best, extremely variable, and at worst, actively harmful. This results in piece-meal, extractive activity, which communities are expected to shoulder with little agency or sustainable funding. This prevents effective action to tackle ethnic inequity, exacerbates mistrust, and fuels disengagement.
Our aim for this practical resource is to embed consistently impactful, community participation and co-production of anti-racism practice across all levels of the health system – from strategic planning and commissioning to the design and delivery of care.
Ahead of the launch of the Invitation to Tender, we are sharing an outline of the project to enable eligible organisations to start thinking about how they might approach formally submitting a bid.
Purpose and aims
The aim of the project will be to deliver a practical, anti-racism resource that supports national, regional, and local health bodies to embed community participation and co-production in their work.
The resource will be designed for use by Integrated Care Boards, local government, NHS providers, and other healthcare organisations. It will enable their meaningful partnership with Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic patients, communities, and healthcare workers, as well as the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector (VCSE) organisations that champion them.
We expect that the project will run over 18 months, with indicative funding of up to £150,000 available. We will consider timescales or budgets outside of this range if compelling justification is given.
We encourage interested parties to carefully consider, and transparently communicate with us, the time and resource requirements they might need to successfully deliver the project – we underscore that this will not disadvantage them in the selection process.
Who will be eligible to apply?
We are particularly interested in hearing from partnership bids and would encourage that these discussions begin now.
The development of the resource should reflect the values and principles behind the work. Relevant lived and learned experience and the ability to demonstrate this will be key.
The lead applicant should be a community-led organisation embedded in and led by racially minoritised communities. Non-community-led organisations will be expected to evidence their track record of working in equitable, ethical partnership with community-led organisations.
We will be assessing submissions on the basis of:
- Overall fit to requirements of the brief, proposed methods, and approaches.
- A proven track record of delivering similar projects successfully, with impactful recommendations and outcomes.
- Relevant lived and learned experience of the team(s) involved, including demonstrable knowledge of and expertise in:
- Ethnic health and workforce inequity and racism in the context of healthcare, including the diverse range of professional stakeholders that exist in the health system.
- Community participation and co-production approaches with Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic patients, communities, and healthcare staff.
- Commitment to anti-racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and cultural safety; stewarding meaningful, ethical relationships with people who have experienced racism and ethnic health and workforce inequity.
- Working in ethnical partnership with, building capacity in, and ceding power to, community-led organisations and racially minoritised communities.
- Designing and developing accessible, user-friendly digital tools and resources.
The Invitation to Tender and full details of how to submit a bid will be made available on 6 August 2025. Applicants will then have a seven-week window to submit their bids before the deadline on 22 September 2025.
For any initial questions, please feel free to contact Rini Jones, our Senior Policy and Delivery Manager at [email protected].