Whole-system initiative to tackle multiple long-term conditions in Southwark

Key partnership information

Partner: Pembroke House

Funding amount: £431,198

Duration: January 2018 – 2025

Programme: multiple long-term conditions

What we’re doing together

Walworth, in Southwark, is a microcosm of the modern inner-city life, with vast sways of regeneration surrounding estates that have some of the highest levels of deprivation in the UK. The area also has a high prevalence of people living with three or more long-term conditions.

We’re working with partners in Walworth, combining action from many organisations to pioneer a whole-systems approach to tackling multiple long-term conditions in the area – to slow people’s progression and improve their quality of life.

Coordinated by a local settlement organisation Pembroke House – which has been working with communities in Walworth for over 130 years – the scheme is looking to work with health and social care providers to develop new integrated models of care. It is also drawing on partners who approach multiple long-term conditions from outside of the traditional health lens, including perspectives from business, campaigning, performance arts, media, architecture and urban design.

Aims of the partnership

We’re working with partners in Walworth to test, evaluate and build the evidence of whole-system approaches to improving the lives of people with multiple long-term conditions. Through this partnership, we aim to have contributed to:

• Reduced prevalence of multiple long-term conditions in Walworth
• Slower progression from one condition to many in the area
• Improved quality of life for local people living with multiple long-term conditions
• Effective local relationships between health and social care systems and communities
• Successful approaches and models picked up and implemented elsewhere

Through our experience in East Walworth, we are looking to help develop a successful model by being embedded in a local area, closer to our communities and more able to test and learn ideas and see results as they unfold, iterating where needed.

Connection to our strategy

The Walworth area, in Southwark, has some of the highest levels of deprivation in the UK. The area is undergoing significant change, due in part to major housing developments in the Heygate Estate, the Aylesbury Estate and soon the Old Kent Road. The area also has high numbers of residents living with multiple long-term conditions and local research indicates that many of them slip through the net and don’t always get the support they need.

But despite these difficulties there are already high levels of engagement between the community and health sectors and an established network of people and organisations with energy and enthusiasm to develop new neighbourhood models. This makes Walworth a prime place to trial new holistic approaches to tackling multiple long-term conditions in a small geography.