New co-producing health and care services toolkit shares learning from Common Ambition Bristol
21 May 2025
A new toolkit aims to help teams to co-produce more equitable health services, inspired by learning from a community-powered sexual health initiative.
Common Ambition Bristol (CAB), a major co-produced project, has been working for the past four years to tackle health inequities and reduce HIV transmission in Bristol.
This pioneering study involves members of African and Caribbean communities living in Bristol, working in equal partnership with sexual health staff and service providers. After four years of working in this way, the team have some important learning to share.
They have produced a handy toolkit to guide service providers who want to use co-production with minoritised communities to improve health services. This toolkit is an interactive PDF. It provides information about the key milestones and challenges in co-production, based on the Common Ambition Bristol experience, suggesting ways to:
Develop shared goals between communities and health services and negotiate core values
Share power and decision making throughout the process
Foster relationships between project partners and community members
Address issues of time, capacity, training and support for co-production
Embed evaluation and iterative feedback into the process
Improve patient-provider communication, collaboration and patient involvement
Reduce health inequities for minoritised communities
Co-production means working together as equals towards a common goal. In healthcare, it means that people who use services, like patients, carers, and community members, help plan and shape those services along with the professionals who deliver them. Co-production aims to create better services that truly meet people’s needs.
Co-production is important because it:
Makes sure services are shaped by the people who use them