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 sector 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 this year we will come back together in a workshop to discuss progress so far and agree how to work together more closely going forward.

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 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.

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 sector 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 this year we will come back together in a workshop to discuss progress so far and agree how to work together more closely going forward.

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 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.

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.



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Page last updated: 22 Aug 2024, 11:33 AM