Health Coaching & Prevention: Writing Bids That Fit the NHS Primary Care Model

October 25, 2025

💡 Health Coaching & Prevention: Writing Bids That Fit the NHS Primary Care Model

The NHS is investing heavily in prevention, lifestyle change, and wellbeing — and Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are at the heart of it. For social care and community providers, this means new tender opportunities for services that help people live well, stay well, and avoid unnecessary hospital use. Here’s how to write bids that align with NHS prevention logic — and score top marks.

Across England, prevention contracts are being tendered by PCNs, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and public health teams — spanning lifestyle services, health coaching, social prescribing, and wellbeing at home. Providers delivering domiciliary care, home care, learning disability, or complex care support can now compete for prevention tenders — if they can evidence measurable health gains. To strengthen bids, many use our Bid Proofreading Services, Editable Method Statements, and Bid Strategy Training to embed NHS-ready evidence and outcome logic.

🏥 Why Prevention is Now Central to NHS Contracting

The NHS Long Term Plan commits to a “radical upgrade in prevention.” Primary care and community services now carry the frontline responsibility for tackling the five big drivers of ill health: inactivity, obesity, smoking, alcohol, and mental wellbeing.

Instead of hospital interventions, ICBs are investing in local providers to deliver:

Health coaching and lifestyle change programmes.
Community wellbeing and social prescribing.
Frailty prevention and falls reduction.
Early detection and self-management support.
Family wellbeing and carer resilience initiatives.

In tenders, this means commissioners are scoring bids on their ability to deliver behavioural change, measurable outcomes, and partnership working with GPs, PCNs, and voluntary sector partners.

⚙️ What NHS Panels Expect to See in Prevention Bids

Prevention tenders are data- and behaviour-led. They focus less on “what you do” and more on “what changes as a result.” Expect scoring around:

Accessibility: reaching people earlier, at lower levels of need.
Engagement: motivating sustained participation and self-management.
Outcomes: measurable improvements in health, wellbeing, and confidence.
Integration: working across GP, PCN, and community boundaries.
Data & evidence: tracking and reporting outcomes to NHS dashboards.

Your bid must balance human stories and hard data — describing the “why” and proving the “so what.”

🧩 The Five-Part Prevention Bid Framework

Use this structure for any NHS prevention or health coaching tender:

1️⃣ Context & Need: Describe the local population challenge — low activity, frailty, isolation, smoking, or poor nutrition. Reference public health data or JSNAs to show awareness of local priorities.
2️⃣ Approach & Delivery Model: Outline how your service helps people change behaviour — through health coaching, group sessions, digital support, or home visits. Explain how you tailor support by risk level or condition.
3️⃣ Workforce & Training: Evidence motivational interviewing, coaching skills, or clinical competencies where relevant. Use role-based training matrices from your Editable Strategies to show structured capability.
4️⃣ Outcomes & Evidence: Present 3–5 measurable indicators linked to NHS outcomes — reduced GP contact, improved health scores, fewer admissions, better wellbeing.
5️⃣ Assurance & Governance: Show how you monitor, audit, and report progress through monthly dashboards and MDT reviews.

📊 Outcome Metrics that Score Highly

Commissioners want measurable change. Use small, credible datasets like:

Physical activity: 62% increased daily movement after 12 weeks.
Weight management: 41% achieved 5%+ weight loss after 3 months.
GP contact reduction: 26% fewer appointments for minor health concerns.
Hospital avoidance: 18% drop in non-elective admissions for cohort participants.
Wellbeing: average WEMWBS (Warwick-Edinburgh scale) improvement of +7 points.

Keep it simple, verifiable, and linked to the NHS’s “Quadruple Aim” — better health, better care, lower cost, improved experience.

🧠 Example 1 — Lifestyle Health Coaching Service

Context: A PCN tender sought to improve physical activity and diet among adults with pre-diabetes.

Approach: Provider delivered one-to-one coaching and group sessions via hybrid (in-person and virtual) models. Each participant set personal goals, tracked progress, and received motivational text check-ins.

Evidence: 44% achieved sustained weight reduction (≥5%); 61% increased activity by ≥150 minutes per week; HbA1c readings improved in 32% of participants.

Tender line: “Structured health coaching with weekly motivational support increased physical activity by 61% and improved HbA1c in one-third of participants.”

🧩 Example 2 — Falls Prevention in the Community

Context: ICB-funded prevention pilot for frail adults at risk of falls and loss of confidence.

Approach: Multidisciplinary sessions including strength training, hydration awareness, home hazard checks, and carer education. Data shared with PCN and community rehab teams.

Evidence: 32% reduction in falls-related A&E attendances; 18% improvement in balance scores; participant confidence up 29%.

Tender line: “Integrated falls prevention sessions reduced A&E attendances by 32% and increased participant confidence by 29%, supporting population health aims.”

🧱 Example 3 — Health Coaching for Learning Disability (LD) & Autism

Context: PCN wanted to improve health literacy, diet, and wellbeing for adults with LD and autism.

Approach: Provider introduced accessible health education sessions, visual goal boards, and carer coaching. Embedded sensory-friendly fitness activities co-designed with participants.

Evidence: Annual health check uptake rose from 56% to 78%; BMI improved in 40%; anxiety incidents reduced 23%.

Tender line: “Co-designed LD health coaching increased annual health check uptake to 78% and reduced anxiety incidents by 23%, evidencing measurable wellbeing gains.”

⚙️ Workforce & Competence in Prevention Contracts

Unlike traditional care contracts, prevention services require staff to act as coaches, not just carers. Show training and competence in:

Motivational interviewing and behaviour change techniques.
Health literacy, communication, and accessible resources.
Recording and analysing outcome data.
Safeguarding, consent, and equality in participation.
Digital delivery skills (e.g., remote sessions, app-based follow-up).

Support this with an extract from your training matrix or Workforce Strategy to show role-specific learning embedded in your bid.

📄 Tools & Templates That Strengthen Prevention Bids

Prevention & Wellbeing Strategy — defines your model, outcomes, data, and governance (Editable Strategies).
Health Coaching Method Statement — covers delivery, engagement, and data tracking (Editable Method Statements).
Outcome Dashboard Template — tracks prevention KPIs and NHS indicators.
Reflective Supervision Template — links staff coaching performance to outcomes.
Proofreading & Review — aligns narrative and data with NHS scoring via our Bid Proofreading Services.

🧮 Value Messaging the NHS Responds To

NHS panels want to see prevention as value — not cost. Show your impact chain clearly:

Efficiency: prevention → fewer GP appointments → lower system cost.
Safety: wellbeing and hydration → fewer incidents → reduced emergency admissions.
Productivity: digital support → wider reach → better utilisation of resources.
Experience: personalised coaching → improved confidence → sustained engagement.

Quantify savings, but also show capacity released — fewer contacts, faster recovery, and reduced clinician workload.

🧭 Key Takeaways

🏥 NHS prevention contracts reward measurable health change — not activity volume.
📊 Show outcomes that matter to PCNs and ICBs: activity, wellbeing, GP use, admissions.
⚙️ Embed workforce competence in behaviour change, motivation, and data use.
📈 Use quantitative and qualitative data to prove sustained improvement.
🚀 Support your bid with strong templates, supervision models, and digital evidence.

Whether you’re expanding from care into wellbeing or tendering for NHS prevention frameworks, our Home Care Bid Writer, Domiciliary Care Bid Writer, Learning Disability Bid Writer, and Complex Care Bid Writer services — plus our Bid Strategy Training and Editable Method Statements — will help you evidence change, not just care.