Quality standard

This quality standard covers community engagement approaches to improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities, and initiatives to change behaviours that harm people’s health. This includes building on the strengths and capabilities of communities, helping them to identify their needs and working with them to design and deliver initiatives and improve equity.

NICE quality standards focus on aspects of health and social care that are commissioned locally. They do not cover areas of national policy.

In this quality standard, a ‘commissioner’ is any person or organisation providing financial resources regardless of which sector they belong to.

Local commissioners include:

  • local government
  • NHS trusts
  • locally operating third sector organisations (voluntary and community organisations; registered charities and other organisations, such as associations, self-help and community groups, social enterprises, mutuals and cooperatives).

National commissioners include:

  • NHS England
  • Public Health England
  • national third sector organisations
  • government departments (for example, Cabinet Office, which funds the community organisers programme).

How to use NICE quality standards and how we develop them

Quality standards help you improve the quality of care you provide or commission. They apply in England and Wales (see the UK government website and Welsh government website). Decisions on how they apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland are made by ministers in the Scottish government and Northern Ireland Executive.

Find out how to use quality standards and how we develop them. We check our quality standards every August to make sure they are up to date.