Home > News > Joint plan launched to improve health and care in Wandsworth

Published: 7 Oct 2019

A major plan to improve the health and care of residents in Wandsworth has been launched this week.

Health and social care organisations across Wandsworth, including St George’s University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, are working together to ensure our social care, community, wellbeing and hospital services are as joined up as possible.

The Wandsworth health and care plan for 2019-2021 brings together the NHS, the Council, Healthwatch and the voluntary sector to look at what’s important for the borough and sets out initiatives to improve the health and wellbeing for residents of all ages.

The plan focuses on prevention, joining up care where it is appropriate to deliver a better service and supporting and developing resilience in individuals and local communities.

The plan sets out that by the end of 2020 health and care organisations will:

  • Improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people by investing in new services, making it easier for young people to access support, and reducing waiting times – in particular focusing on building emotional resilience and supporting BAME young people
  • Support more people living with diabetes in community settings, enabling them to be supported closer to home. We will also double attendance at structured education programmes to improve patient confidence to self-manage and provide extra capacity at evening and weekends to improve uptake
  • Improve the support we provide to the frailest older people in care homes at the end of their lives. For example, we will join up community services, including support for carers, and improve falls prevention services.

The plan also sets out initiatives for the following:

  • Reducing childhood obesity and risky behaviours
  • Improving mental health and wellbeing for adults
  • Supporting people living with dementia and reducing social isolation

The plan was developed following a Wandsworth event In November 2018 which brought together health and care frontline staff, local people and representatives from lots of different community organisations.

Those who attended included representatives from the NHS, Council, the voluntary sector, Healthwatch, local GPs, hospitals and health service providers. Ideas generated during the event have been used to develop the Wandsworth Health and Care Plan through the Wandsworth Transformation Group.

Our Chief Executive, Jacqueline Totterdell, welcomed the launch of the plan in a short video, which you can view below:

Notes to editors

The organisations involved are:

  • Battersea Healthcare
  • Healthwatch Wandsworth
  • London Ambulance Service
  • London Borough of Wandsworth
  • NHS Wandsworth Clinical Commissioning Group
  • South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
  • South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
  • St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Wandsworth Voluntary Sector Co-ordination Project