This is our fifth annual Progress Report, covering April 2023 to March 2024. It includes updated performance figures, how we did against our six priorities, plus our plans for the coming year and beyond.
Welcome and introduction
This is the first year of the three-year Living Well Network Alliance contract extension that started in April 2025. This is an opportunity to look at what has been achieved, to refresh our vision for the development of the services that the Alliance is responsible for, and to continue to move forward to improve how these services respond to the needs of the people of Lambeth.
In late in 2024 we commissioned Anu Singh to review the Alliance’s work to date and to identify what we did well and what we could improve as well as helping us to identify priorities for the next three years. It was rewarding to read this review and to be reminded about how much has been achieved since 2018, and that in many ways the Alliance then was a precursor to the way the NHS has developed since. Alongside the many positives – such as reducing service hand-offs, much better use of the voluntary and community sector to work with the whole person rather just an illness, and co-producing new services such as Culturally Appropriate Peer Support (CAPSA) which improves access and outcomes for Black communities, and the Primary Care Alliance Network (PCAN) which works to help GPs and primary care teams to provide more effective support in the community.
However, in many ways, the world has become more difficult since 2018. The pandemic continues to have an impact on the way health services work, as well as on the money available to improve them. And particularly on the demand for the services that the Alliance provides.
Our three areas of focus are:
• To better understand and reduce the need for hospital admissions, both from people who are already known to services in Lambeth, but also the significant proportion of people who have no previous connection to the borough.
• To increase early support for Lambeth’s Black communities and other groups that are disproportionately receiving a service at a late point in their illness
• To improve recovery, ensuring that we have the appropriate services and accommodation to help people move away from crisis when they are ready, and making sure the systems of support and accommodation are helping recovery, rather than creating barriers.
Finally, we want to thank everyone who has been involved in the Alliance over the year, whether as service user representatives, carers, members of the community, or as members of staff. With particular thanks to Sabrina Phillips, who was Alliance Director until the start of the period in March 2024, and Lorraine Gordon who was our interim Director until the end of March 2025. We wish them well in their new roles.
Bill Tidnam
Chair of the LWNA Communications and Engagement Group
Chief Executive of Thames Reach
Can you help us?
We have a short survey that anyone who use our services is invited to complete. It will take less than three minutes and will tell us how well we are doing and what we need to improve.