Fund trusted community groups and grassroots organisations to develop their peer-led insight-gathering approaches
NHS Community Voices Programme
The NHS Community Voices Programme is helping Greater Manchester’s health system hear more clearly from the people it most needs to hear from. That means people who experience the worst health outcomes and health inequalities, and people who too often face marginalisation and exclusion.
Listening and taking action for health equity in Greater Manchester
The NHS Community Voices Programme is helping Greater Manchester’s health system hear more clearly from the people it most needs to hear from. That means people who experience the worst health outcomes and health inequalities, and people who too often face marginalisation and exclusion.
Through the programme, trusted community groups and grassroots organisations are gathering insight from their own communities, in ways that work for the people they support. That insight is being shared with NHS Greater Manchester and local NHS partners, so it can shape decisions about how health services work and what they prioritise.
The programme is funded by NHS Greater Manchester and is delivered across all ten localities by local VCSE infrastructure organisations, with 10GM providing a single point of coordination across Greater Manchester. It began in 2026 and reporting will run until April 2027.
Why community-led insight matters
Health services often hear from communities through one-off consultations, designed and run from the top down. Communities are rarely asked what matters most to them about how the system works, or what they would change.
This programme takes a different approach. Because insight is gathered by groups that people already know and trust, it comes directly from local people, in their own words. It builds a fuller picture of what matters to communities, and it gives decision-makers evidence they can act on with confidence.
What the programme is doing
The programme has three aims:
Build local VCSE capacity to bring insight together and share it with local and Greater Manchester NHS partners, so it can influence their strategy
Improve two-way information flows between communities and health services
A fair approach, shaped locally
Every locality receives the same level of funding. Each decides how to use it, based on the needs, priorities and identity of its own communities. Local infrastructure organisations lead this work in their area and give community groups the freedom to design projects that suit the people they work with.
For many of the groups involved, this is a first opportunity to work directly with the NHS, and for many partners it is a first opportunity to work together on a shared project. The programme gives them the space and support to build those relationships, and to build the confidence and skills to speak up for their communities.
Because the programme runs through one Greater Manchester-wide process, NHS partners have one route into this work rather than ten separate projects. It also reduces the reporting burden on local organisations.
Learning together
Local infrastructure organisations from across Greater Manchester meet monthly to swap ideas, share what is working and talk honestly about challenges. Many of these sessions are in person, and they include shaping what happens to the insight once it has been gathered, so the programme’s legacy is designed together rather than handed down.
We are also capturing what we learn through case studies and reporting, so that people beyond Greater Manchester’s VCSE sector and NHS can benefit from it.
Listen: “The power of VCFSE partnerships and lived experience”
What does it take for health and care services to build genuine partnerships with community organisations?
In this episode of Leadership Live episode, our Katya Pursall joins Mark Jepson from GMCA’s Changing Futures programme to talk about the role of VCSE organisations in tackling health inequalities, and why listening to people with lived experience is essential to designing services that work for everyone.
It’s a useful listen for anyone in health, care or public services who wants to build stronger community partnerships and amplify voices that are too often missed.
Community Voices in action
The same funding is being used in different ways, and that’s intended, depending on what works best for each place. Here’s how it’s taking shape in two localities.
Stockport
Sector 3 is working with Age UK Stockport, BOOST CIC, Cheadle Masjid, Disability Stockport, Re:Dish, Stockport Armed Forces Community Organisations and Stockport Race Equality Partnership to gather insight. Each is trusted by the people it supports, including older residents, men living with health conditions, Muslim communities, disabled people, veterans and armed forces communities, and ethnically diverse communities.
Findings are shared with public health partners to help improve services, and with local community organisations to spark new ideas and collaboration. Reports so far have covered access to healthcare and NHS systems and processes. Read them now:
“Access to Healthcare” – Community Voices Programme: Quarter One Report
“NHS Systems & Processes” – Community Voices Programme: Quarter Two Report
Trafford
Trafford Community Collective is working with partner organisations to gather insight through community events, support groups, workshops and one-to-one conversations. Early findings point to barriers around communication, accessibility, transport, language and inclusive healthcare, and they’re already helping to shape further engagement. You can read the Collective’s Quarter One 2026 report now.
What happens next
The programme is due to report in April 2027. We’ll share learning and case studies on this page as they become available.
Got questions?
To find out more about what’s happening in your area, contact your local infrastructure organisation or get in touch with 10GM. We will keep updating this page with the latest developments.
Project Lead
Related work
Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise and Primary Care Network Partnerships
As part of our Population Health work, 10GM has funded 5 partnerships to become test and learn sites to explore how the VCSE sector and GPs can build lasting relationships that help them work together to tackle health inequality.
Changing Futures
The Changing Futures programme is led by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). 10GM, connects the VCSE sector, to improve the way that local systems and services work for adults experiencing multiple disadvantage – including homelessness, drug and alcohol problems, mental ill health, domestic abuse and contact with the criminal justice system.
Content last reviewed on 25 September 2026
