Our neighbourhoods

Learn more about neighbourhood health and care services in Lambeth

In Lambeth and across the country, the NHS is working with partners to develop and deliver a neighbourhood health and care service.

A neighbourhood health and care service will transform how we support people’s health and wellbeing by bringing more care closer to home, making services easier to access and use, and helping people live healthier, more independent lives.  Neighbourhood working is not just about treating illness.  It’s about supporting people to stay well at every stage of life, and addressing the wider issues that affect health, like housing, employment, education, and social support. Services will be more joined-up and tailored to the needs of each local community.

Examples of our work so far

Neighbourhood health and care is not new to Lambeth. We have been working for many years to bring services together to better support residents. For example:

The CHILDS model

Providing early intervention and personalised care for children and young people with more complex needs.

The Child Health Integrated Learning and Delivery System, or CHILDS model, was introduced to bring together general practitioners, paediatricians and community nurses in neighbourhood-based teams to support children and young people with asthma, eczema and constipation. Results have shown reductions in emergency department attendances, hospital admissions, and outpatient appointments for those seen by the service.

The CHILDS offer has been recently expanded to strengthen support for children with emotional wellbeing needs, particularly those who may not meet referral thresholds for specialist services. This additional support builds on the mental health input already linked to some teams and reflects the wider ambition to integrate physical and emotional health more closely.

Building on the CHILDS model, Lambeth’s new Children and Young People Integrated Neighbourhood Teams aim to provide better coordinated, earlier, and more joined-up care. This work will help address health inequalities and support better outcomes for children and families across the borough.

Community living rooms as health and wellbeing spaces

In Stockwell, a long-standing partnership between residents, voluntary and community groups, GP practices, the Council and others is providing essential support to vulnerable communities, promoting good physical and mental health by connecting residents to social and community activities that improve their wellbeing and resilience.

Thriving Stockwell’s community living rooms, held in childrens’ centres, arts spaces and community centres, run as peer support groups where members decide on activities to do that will support their overall health and wellbeing. This might be yoga, coffee and chat sessions, sewing, or rumba. Over twenty groups have run since 2023, involving Portuguese and Spanish speakers, Black mothers, LGBTQ+ people and individuals experiencing long term pain. The groups have support from Thriving Stockwell and Stockwellbeing Primary Care Network to establish themselves, connect them to useful sources of information or advice, and to run some of their activities, with most becoming self-sustaining over time.

Participants have reported greater levels of satisfaction with their life in general, improved mental health and a greater sense of purpose at the end of 12 weeks. Participants also reported closer social relationships, fewer worries about financial and material stability, and fewer concerns about safety, food and housing security.

Thriving Stockwell’s approach to health and wellbeing goes beyond traditional NHS structures and works proactively to connect people to services, services to services, and people to people, and provides much learning for Lambeth as we further develop neighbourhood ways of working.

This next phase builds on that strong foundation to make sure every community benefits from a more connected and proactive approach to care.

What are the neighbourhoods in our borough?

Lambeth is divided into five neighbourhoods:

  1. Brixton and Herne Hill (covers Myatt’s Field, Brixton North, Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction, Brixton Windrush, Brixton Rush Common, St Martin’s)
  2. Clapham (covers Clapham Town, Clapham East, Clapham Park, Clapham Common and Abbeville, Brixton Acre Lane)
  3. North Lambeth and Stockwell (covers Waterloo and Southbank, Kennington, Vauxhall, Oval, Stockwell East, Stockwell West & Larkhall)
  4. Norwood (covers West Dulwich, Knights Hill and Gipsy Hill)
  5. Streatham (covers Streatham Hill West and Thornton, Streatham Hill East, Streatham St Leonard’s, Streatham Wells, Streatham Common and Vale)

You can find out more about services in your neighbourhood by:

  • clicking on the map, or
  • entering your postcode below.

What will change?

Developing integrated neighbourhood teams – or INTS – is essential to delivering personalised, joined up and localised care across south east London.

INTs go beyond multi-disciplinary working by fully integrating staff from health, social care and voluntary services into a single local team, responsible for delivering seamless and coordinated care in a specific neighbourhood.  INTs will work closely together to deliver joined-up and personalised care and will be shaped by the needs of the neighbourhood they are in.  Our aim is to make care more connected, easier to access, and better coordinated so it responds to the whole person and not just their clinical needs.

Initial focus for the neighbourhood health service

Our neighbourhood working will start with prioritising three key groups where there is the greatest opportunity for improvement:

  • People with three or more long-term conditions: helping people manage their conditions to avoid longer term impacts from their condition and reduce the need for hospital care.
  • Frailty and end-of-life care: supporting older adults to live independently and get care in their community.
  • Children with complex needs: providing early and ongoing support for children and families.

What the neighbourhood health service will mean for you

  • Joined-up care: different health and care services work together to support all your needs.
  • Easier access: services will be available closer to home, reducing travel and waiting times.
  • Better ongoing support: you see the health and care professionals from the same team more often, leading to better follow-up care
  • More focus on preventing ill health: support for healthy lifestyles, mental wellbeing, and long-term conditions before problems get worse.
  • Easier to work out what services you need: with teams working together, it’s easier to find the right help when you need it.
  • More personalised care: services are tailored to meet your needs

Where are we now?

We are in the early stages of developing a neighbourhood health and care service in Lambeth. Over the coming months, we’ll be sharing updates, gathering feedback, and working with residents to refine our plans.

Your input is important and we will publicise opportunities for you to be involved.

How can I find out more?