Your Community, Your Health – Healthwatch Wandsworth Assembly recap

On Tuesday the 24th of March 2026 we came together to discuss the future of Neighbourhood Health in Wandsworth. The NHS has told us that Health care leaders in South West London are looking to help people live well in local areas and reduce the need for care in hospitals. They aim to achieve this by improving the way services are delivered in every London neighbourhood, putting people and communities at the heart of care.

We welcomed members of the public as well as representative of local voluntary sector organisations to come and share their thoughts on the topic.

Recap

We were joined on the day by around 35 members of the public as well as 10 representatives of local voluntary sector organisations.

Gloria Olajuyigbe began the Assembly with an introduction to the Avery Collection and why she sees it as vital for the Care Home to act as a connector for the community and voluntary organisations.

Stephen Hickey, Chair of Healthwatch Wandsworth, gave an introduction of the work we do and why it is so important that we hear from the community and voluntary sector organisations on the topic of Neighbourhood Health.

Sarah Cook, Healthwatch Wandsworth Director, then gave a summary of the Neighbourhood Health approach.

Max Russel, Healthwatch Wandsworth, explained to attendees how Wandsworth Care Alliance/Healthwatch Wandsworth has been working with NHS South West London Integrated Care Board to offer grants to local Wandsworth organisations through the Neighbourhood Engagement Fund.

Through this fund voluntary and community sector organisations are tasked with running activities to hold conversations and gather community insights about people's experiences of accessing support in their local area.

Attendees then heard from the 11 organisations below that have been funded about their work and what they are doing with the fund.

These organisations touched on a number of themes regarding what they had heard from residents about accessing support these included:

• Digital exclusion
• Lack of information on what support is available
• The importance of safe spaces and local organisations
• Lack of joint up working between the NHS, loacal authority and voluntary sector organisations

The full detail of the insights captured by these organisations through the fund will be shared in the near future on our website and in our newsletter

We Also Heard From You

We asked everyone attending to share their thoughts on a number of questions related to Neighbourhood Health.

We asked attendees how best to support individuals who are isolated, what information would help communities stay healthy and how it should be provided, and what ultimately would make the biggest difference to help people live healthier lives in your local area.

• Attendees told us that collaborative work was key to supporting isolated individuals and that the insights gathered on how best to support them needs to be shared effectively and acted on.
• We also heard that overwhelmingly people wanted more information on what services were available and how to access them and that this information should be provided in a range of ways to reach a wide audience.
• Attendees also said that training on providing information on health related topics would be beneficial for residents and local voluntary organisations.

Thank you again to all those who attended and we hope to see you at our next event in the near future!

Our thanks again to Gloria Olajuyigbe and her team at Avery Collection Wimbledon Common Care Home

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