Southwark Council, the local NHS and GP surgeries, charities and community and volunteer groups, have come together to reach more people and make sure that everyone in the community has one-stop access to the right support during this difficult time.
About the hub
Southwark Community Hub (#Covid19CommunityHub) is available to anyone in Southwark and provides a place to go to where you can email or chat to someone to get advice and support on a range of issues like:
- If you need food, medicine or other delivery support
- If you need financial support,
- If you need childcare or advice about education
- If you are not sure how to get help for someone you know
- About your mental well being
- If you would like to volunteer
- You want to know more about Mutual Aid Groups in your area
- If you are a business or organisation that would like to help
- If you are a business or organisation that needs some help
Please contact the Community Hub at covidsupport@southwark.gov.uk or call 020 7525 5000 if you would like to chat to someone about your concerns.
The Hub is hosted by Southwark Council and is a joint initiative with local charities, the local NHS and GP surgeries, to provide residents with all the important information in one place. Once you have contacted the Hub you may be referred to the voluntary and community sector or NHS, depending on your need.
If you want to find out information about local services and how these are affected by the coronavirus epidemic, please look at the council or service website. Some useful websites are below.
As a community, the situation we are facing is unprecedented and therefore requires us all to work together differently in these exceptional times. We are proud to be working closely together as local charities, the council, the NHS and GP surgeries, to join up efforts and to ensure the most vulnerable people in our community are supported and protected. We want you to know that we’ve got your back, and, we will keep doing everything we can across our different organisations to support and protect Southwark’s communities. If you have symptoms of corona virus, use the 111 corona virus service or call 111. Do not go to your GP or pharmacy. Please leave phone lines free for people who cannot go online.
If you have other medical needs look at your GP surgery’s website, or call your GP. GP surgeries are open for business as usual and although there are more video and telephone consultations, GPs are still there to provide advice and guidance on non-corona virus health issues, such as cancer diagnosis or long term health condition management. Antenatal and post-natal health advice and immunisations for children are the other things you should also visit your GP for.
Southwark Community Hub Review
In March 2020, the council worked in partnership with the voluntary and community and health sectors in Southwark to set up and run a Community Hub to meet the needs of vulnerable residents impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This was an extraordinary and unprecedented collaboration and an incredible effort across the partnership. It established a substantial new service in a matter of days that has now been running providing vital support for residents for over three months.
The council and partners have agreed that the Community Hub will continue to operate as it is until the 30 September, 2020. During this time the council and partners will work together to review the Hub’s operation and make recommendations on a way forward for implementation from October 2020.
This review will take evidence from residents, the VCS, NHS and council and make recommendations on:
The best model to continue to provide the extra support vulnerable Southwark residents need during the COVID-19 pandemic post September 2020
- How this model can be taken forward in a way that maximises the longer term legacy for our communities and makes the most of the incredible community and volunteering effort that arose from the crisis
- How we can ensure this work helps to address the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on BAME communities
The council will be working with Community Southwark to ensure ideas and feedback from the wider voluntary and community sector are fed into the review, alongside feedback from residents.
The review will be led by a cross sector review group, with the following membership:
- Chair – Cllr Kieron Williams (Cabinet Member for Housing & Modernisation)
- Cllr Evelyn Akoto (Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Public Health)
- Hayley Ormandy (NHS)
- Cathy Deplessis (Southwark Pensioners)
- Mike Wilson (Pembroke House)
- Chris Mikata-Pralat (Community Southwark)
- Council Officers:
- Michael Scorer (Strategic Director for Housing & Modernisation
- Stephen Douglass (Director of Communities)
- Dominic Cain (Director of Exchequer)
- Richard Selley (Director of Customer Experience)
- Pauline O’Hare (Director of Adult Social Care)
- Alex Irvine (Community Support Manager)
- Sylvia Garry/Rosie Dalton Lucas (Public Health)
Background Documents:
- Community Hub Governance (June 2020)
- Community Hub Review Meeting on 10th July 2020
- Community Hub Statistical Briefing on 10th July 2020
- Community Hub Proposed Changes on 10th July 2020
- Mutual Aid Groups (MAGs) feedback (added 17th July 2020)
- VCS and MAGs survey results (added 17th July 2020)
- VCS feedback on the future of the Community Hub (added 17th July 2020)
- Review Group Meeting Minutes from 10th July 2020 (added 24th July 2020)
- Engagement Plan (added 24th July 2020)
- Terms of Reference (added 24th July 2020)
- Review Group Meeting Minutes from 24th July 2020 (added 5th August 2020)
- Heath and Wellbeing Board update (added 5th August 2020)
- Social Prescribing supporting Shielded Residents (added 5th August 2020)
- Meeting Presentation (added 21st August 2020)
- Southwark Community Hub Review Report (added 4th Sep 2020)
- Southwark Community Hub Recommendations (added 4th Sep 2020)
- Southwark Community Hub Response Plan (added 4th Sep 2020)
- Southwark Community Support Alliance Update (added 26th Oct 2020)
- Southwark Community Support Alliance Governance Structure (added 26th Oct 2020)
For up do date information about the Southwark Community Support Alliance please visit https://www.communitysouthwark.org/southwark-council
