Local early action: how to make it happen

Southwark and Lambeth Health and Wellbeing Boards have committed to making prevention and early action "the new normal" in a new initiative.

It is widely understood that investing in prevention and early intervention is central to supporting wellbeing and improving quality of life and sustaining public services.

It's also clear that unprecedented cuts can create barriers to taking early action. Therefore it is fair to say that upstream investment is key to developing a sustainable health and social care sector, but there are concerns that financially strapped councils will not prioritise prevention.

This isn't stopping all local authorities from making a strong commitment to prevention and wellbeing: 'Local early action: how to make it happen' sets out how Southwark and Lambeth Health and Wellbeing Boards plan to establish their new model.

The boroughs' have set up the Southwark and Lambeth Early Action Commission to reduce demand for acute services and maintain wellbeing for all residents.

Chaired by the Rt. Hon Dame Margaret Hodge, MP and supported by the New Economics Foundation, key recommendations from the Commission include some core principles very familiar to those of us working to develop strong and inclusive communities:

• Take an asset based approach
• Transform the commissioning process to support early action,
• Promote and apply principles of co-production
• Commit a significant % of spend each year to early action, and,
• Strengthen the focus and funding of the VCS.