Join the South East London Anchor System programme to tackle challenges that affect people's health and wellbeing

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The NHS in South East London is working alongside Citizens UK to find out what is putting pressure on people's health and wellbeing as part of the Anchor System programme.

Our health is closely linked to the environments we live in. We know that if you have issues with your housing, employment and income, or access to essential resources, these can all have an impact on your physical and mental health.

Alongside its work to provide essential health and care services, the NHS can also work to improve the social and economic conditions people live in, to help prevent illness and improve the lives of people living in South East London.

Our update and progress

We have been working since November to fulfil the pledges we have made, and have worked with partners across South East London

Work and wages

We secured funding from Health Education England (now NHS England) to focus on co-designing solutions to overcome barriers that underrepresented communities are facing in finding good work within Anchor institutions. We partnered with seven voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) organisations across south east London to support our efforts to reach underrepresented communities and work with them to identify solutions to be feed into programme pledge on reducing barriers to careers in anchor institutions.

  • Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network
  • Bexley Deaf Centre
  • Bromley DeafPlus
  • Lewisham Speaking Up
  • Ladies Of Virtue Outreach CIC
  • Policy Centre for African Peoples
  • Bromley Third Sector Enterprise and Bromley Mencap

The solutions created by these Voluntary Sector organisations have been turned into a report, which has been shared with NHS Employers across South East London to help them reduce barriers to work for communities that are underrepresented in the health and care workforce and may experience barriers to jobs in health and care.

In the autumn 2024 we came back together in a workshop to discuss progress so far and agree how to work together more closely going forward. You can read more about this project on the South East London VCSE Alliance website.

We are also developing a Living Wage action plan to help reduce low pay and insecure work in health and social care.

We are also exploring how we can champion English for Speakers of Other Languages support, through providing more information to people about what classes they could access. So far, we have published an ESOL directory on our SEL Good Work jobs hub.

Making NHS-owned spaces available for community groups to use

We have created a digital platform that will allow community groups and voluntary sector organisations to book spaces at low or no cost, to help them run their vital services and support local people.

Over the coming months, we will be working with community and voluntary sector leaders and NHS organisations to identify spaces and share access to the platform with groups that would benefit from it.

Housing

In July 2024 we hosted our first health and housing workshop to begin exploring the links between health and housing, and the challenges and opportunities for working more closely to reduce housing-related health inequalities.

We are carrying out research to understand how health and housing organisations are already working together to reduce health inequalities that arise from housing issues, and in November we will reconvene to agree a health and housing action plan.

News: The Power of Partnership: Our Response

After a year of collaboration and listening to those most affected, as part of our South London Listens and Anchor programmes – in partnership with South West London ICB, through our commitment to be an Anchor System, harnessing the power of our institutions to improve the social determinants of health, we co-developed a set of priorities with our communities that form the backbone of our Health and Housing Action Plan.

These were discussed at the first meeting of the Health and Housing Coalition coordinated in partnership with the social impact charity Citizens UK on 5 December—a pioneering meeting that brought together NHS leaders, local councillors, GPs, and community leaders with lived experience from across south London. This is a new approach to tackling housing and health—and it is urgently needed. The roundtable was part of a wider day of commitment to action. A powerful theatre performance and community-led march amplified the voices of those directly affected by poor housing, reminding us of the scale and immediacy of the challenge.

The Housing Action Plan: To drive meaningful change, we have identified three key priority areas:

  1. Leveraging NHS land to create affordable homes
  2. Embedding housing advocacy within health services that support people with housing-adjacent health needs and strengthening the role of the health system in identifying housing issues
  3. Strengthening community power to influence housing and health decisions

Read more details about the three key priority areas and next steps and more details about the Housing Coalition event in December on our website.

Detailed plans for delivering against the community priorities will be launched later this year, following wider engagement with communities and stakeholders. Coalition partners agreed to meet again at the end of March to share progress, ahead of a full launch expected in the summer.

Our journey for preventing illness in South East London

In Summer 2023 we involved you and other people living in south east London representing our diverse communities to understand the pressures on you and your community, to help us create solutions to issues affecting people’s health.

Thank you to everyone who was involved in our listening campaign and supported us to hear from you and your community.

Who we listened to?
People in low paid and precarious work
Migrants and refugees, people with English as a second language
Young people
People with disabilities
LGBTQ+ community
Health and care staff
Carers and lone parents

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities

People directly experiencing injustice


“What puts pressure on you and your community’s ability to thrive?”

We connected and listened to over 2,500 people across south east London, working with community groups and organisations to help us hear from a diverse group of people. Read more details about our listening campaign.

South East London Citizens Community Health Assembly

In November, 350 South East Londoners came together with NHS and council leaders, committing to work together to reduce health inequalities and take action on the issues raised in the listening campaign. Organisations across South East London made pledges in response to the themes we heard including:

Our pledges: Anchor Programme Work, wages and cost of living • We pledge to develop a three-year action plan that sets out how we can ensure a real living wage in South East London and fulfil our commitment to working with the Living Wage Foundation to become a recognised living wage system. We will submit this action plan, including a review of living hours, within the next six months. • We recognise that support for improving English language skills can be a route to better health through work and fair pay. We pledge to champion English as a Second Language support by signposting potential employees and providing space for classes and workshops. • We pledge to work with our local communities to support underrepresented groups, like young people, disabled people, migrants and returning to work parents into jobs in our anchor institutions. We pledge to work with communities over the next 6 months to make roles in anchor institutions more accessible for people that experience barriers to meaningful work. Children, young people and parents • We pledge to map spaces owned by anchor institutions that would be suitable for community groups to book, within the next 12 months, and make them available for use by community organisations and youth organisations. Housing • We pledge to work with Citizens UK to convene system partners to build an action plan which uses the evidence base of the impact of housing on health and wellbeing so that solutions can be identified and implemented. We commit to begin this process in collaboration with communities no later than January 2024 and identify solutions by September 2024.



The NHS in South East London is working alongside Citizens UK to find out what is putting pressure on people's health and wellbeing as part of the Anchor System programme.

Our health is closely linked to the environments we live in. We know that if you have issues with your housing, employment and income, or access to essential resources, these can all have an impact on your physical and mental health.

Alongside its work to provide essential health and care services, the NHS can also work to improve the social and economic conditions people live in, to help prevent illness and improve the lives of people living in South East London.

Our update and progress

We have been working since November to fulfil the pledges we have made, and have worked with partners across South East London

Work and wages

We secured funding from Health Education England (now NHS England) to focus on co-designing solutions to overcome barriers that underrepresented communities are facing in finding good work within Anchor institutions. We partnered with seven voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) organisations across south east London to support our efforts to reach underrepresented communities and work with them to identify solutions to be feed into programme pledge on reducing barriers to careers in anchor institutions.

  • Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network
  • Bexley Deaf Centre
  • Bromley DeafPlus
  • Lewisham Speaking Up
  • Ladies Of Virtue Outreach CIC
  • Policy Centre for African Peoples
  • Bromley Third Sector Enterprise and Bromley Mencap

The solutions created by these Voluntary Sector organisations have been turned into a report, which has been shared with NHS Employers across South East London to help them reduce barriers to work for communities that are underrepresented in the health and care workforce and may experience barriers to jobs in health and care.

In the autumn 2024 we came back together in a workshop to discuss progress so far and agree how to work together more closely going forward. You can read more about this project on the South East London VCSE Alliance website.

We are also developing a Living Wage action plan to help reduce low pay and insecure work in health and social care.

We are also exploring how we can champion English for Speakers of Other Languages support, through providing more information to people about what classes they could access. So far, we have published an ESOL directory on our SEL Good Work jobs hub.

Making NHS-owned spaces available for community groups to use

We have created a digital platform that will allow community groups and voluntary sector organisations to book spaces at low or no cost, to help them run their vital services and support local people.

Over the coming months, we will be working with community and voluntary sector leaders and NHS organisations to identify spaces and share access to the platform with groups that would benefit from it.

Housing

In July 2024 we hosted our first health and housing workshop to begin exploring the links between health and housing, and the challenges and opportunities for working more closely to reduce housing-related health inequalities.

We are carrying out research to understand how health and housing organisations are already working together to reduce health inequalities that arise from housing issues, and in November we will reconvene to agree a health and housing action plan.

News: The Power of Partnership: Our Response

After a year of collaboration and listening to those most affected, as part of our South London Listens and Anchor programmes – in partnership with South West London ICB, through our commitment to be an Anchor System, harnessing the power of our institutions to improve the social determinants of health, we co-developed a set of priorities with our communities that form the backbone of our Health and Housing Action Plan.

These were discussed at the first meeting of the Health and Housing Coalition coordinated in partnership with the social impact charity Citizens UK on 5 December—a pioneering meeting that brought together NHS leaders, local councillors, GPs, and community leaders with lived experience from across south London. This is a new approach to tackling housing and health—and it is urgently needed. The roundtable was part of a wider day of commitment to action. A powerful theatre performance and community-led march amplified the voices of those directly affected by poor housing, reminding us of the scale and immediacy of the challenge.

The Housing Action Plan: To drive meaningful change, we have identified three key priority areas:

  1. Leveraging NHS land to create affordable homes
  2. Embedding housing advocacy within health services that support people with housing-adjacent health needs and strengthening the role of the health system in identifying housing issues
  3. Strengthening community power to influence housing and health decisions

Read more details about the three key priority areas and next steps and more details about the Housing Coalition event in December on our website.

Detailed plans for delivering against the community priorities will be launched later this year, following wider engagement with communities and stakeholders. Coalition partners agreed to meet again at the end of March to share progress, ahead of a full launch expected in the summer.

Our journey for preventing illness in South East London

In Summer 2023 we involved you and other people living in south east London representing our diverse communities to understand the pressures on you and your community, to help us create solutions to issues affecting people’s health.

Thank you to everyone who was involved in our listening campaign and supported us to hear from you and your community.

Who we listened to?
People in low paid and precarious work
Migrants and refugees, people with English as a second language
Young people
People with disabilities
LGBTQ+ community
Health and care staff
Carers and lone parents

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities

People directly experiencing injustice


“What puts pressure on you and your community’s ability to thrive?”

We connected and listened to over 2,500 people across south east London, working with community groups and organisations to help us hear from a diverse group of people. Read more details about our listening campaign.

South East London Citizens Community Health Assembly

In November, 350 South East Londoners came together with NHS and council leaders, committing to work together to reduce health inequalities and take action on the issues raised in the listening campaign. Organisations across South East London made pledges in response to the themes we heard including:

Our pledges: Anchor Programme Work, wages and cost of living • We pledge to develop a three-year action plan that sets out how we can ensure a real living wage in South East London and fulfil our commitment to working with the Living Wage Foundation to become a recognised living wage system. We will submit this action plan, including a review of living hours, within the next six months. • We recognise that support for improving English language skills can be a route to better health through work and fair pay. We pledge to champion English as a Second Language support by signposting potential employees and providing space for classes and workshops. • We pledge to work with our local communities to support underrepresented groups, like young people, disabled people, migrants and returning to work parents into jobs in our anchor institutions. We pledge to work with communities over the next 6 months to make roles in anchor institutions more accessible for people that experience barriers to meaningful work. Children, young people and parents • We pledge to map spaces owned by anchor institutions that would be suitable for community groups to book, within the next 12 months, and make them available for use by community organisations and youth organisations. Housing • We pledge to work with Citizens UK to convene system partners to build an action plan which uses the evidence base of the impact of housing on health and wellbeing so that solutions can be identified and implemented. We commit to begin this process in collaboration with communities no later than January 2024 and identify solutions by September 2024.



  • Get involved in our listening campaign and share your views on what makes it harder for you and your community to thrive?

    Share Get involved in our listening campaign and share your views on what makes it harder for you and your community to thrive? on Facebook Share Get involved in our listening campaign and share your views on what makes it harder for you and your community to thrive? on Twitter Share Get involved in our listening campaign and share your views on what makes it harder for you and your community to thrive? on Linkedin Email Get involved in our listening campaign and share your views on what makes it harder for you and your community to thrive? link

    Over the summer 2023 we involved you and other people living in south east London representing our diverse communities to understand the pressures on you and your community. Thank you to everyone involved.

    Who we listened to?

    People in low paid and precarious work

    Migrants and refugees, people with English as a second language

    Young people

    People with disabilities

    LGBTQ+ community

    Health and care staff

    Carers and lone parents

    Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities

    People directly experiencing injustice

    “What puts pressure on you and your community’s ability to thrive?”

    We connected and listened to over 2,500 people across south east London using an extensive set of methods so that we could link up and hear from a diverse group of people. This enabled us to hear about the impact of a range of issues people are currently experiencing.

    How we listened?

    What we heard? - emerging themes from our listening campaign

    Now that we have listened to over 2500 people across South East London, we know that the main issues affecting people’s ability to thrive are:

    • Housing
    • Migration and Race
    • Work, Wages, and Cost of Living
    • Mental Health and Social Isolation
    • Children, Young People, and Parents


    What are we hearing across key themes? Housing: Poor conditions, Lack of affordability, Lack of provision, Mold/damp, Overcrowding and its impact on wellbeing, Repair issues and how these are a constant source of stress Migration and Race: Lack of institutional trust, Conditions in migrant hotels, Systemic racism/ discrimination, Language barriers, Interpersonal racism/stereo-typing (acts of trauma), Minority groups feeling like their needs are ignored by the system Work, Wages, and Cost of Living: Difficulty paying bills, Additional financial pressures for specific groups e.g. parents, Cost of public transport, Unsupportive employers/not inclusive, Lack of employment opportunities, Low wage jobs Mental Health and Social Isolation: Waiting times, Access challenges for specific communities, Lack of timely/relevant information, Addiction impact on families, Loneliness especially for older adults, Stigma Children, Young People, and Parents: Lack of youth provision (clubs, spaces etc), Lack of accessible parent education, Bullying in school, Cost of childcare, Need for parent groups, Concerns around safety



Page last updated: 30 May 2025, 10:33 AM