Following the initial emergency response to the COVID pandemic, all health and care systems are developing borough-level COVID ‘recovery’ plans as part of wider system and Council plans for recovery. This Lewisham health and care system plan forms the Health and Wellbeing workstream of Lewisham Council’s recovery plan. It also forms part of the South East London CCG’s COVID recovery plan, which will incorporate plans covering health and care in Lewisham, Lambeth, Southwark, Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley.
This document sets out our plans for the next 18 months. It includes how we will:
• protect local people and the key workers that support them by mitigating and managing any further waves of COVID-19, learning from our experiences since March of this year.
• re-start key services and manage existing and new need for support arising from the lock down period.
• work with local communities to “build back better” and ensure everyone in Lewisham can live safely and well.
The impact of COVID-19 on Lewisham has left scars which must be acknowledged and healed. Our ambition for our recovery is to create a strong, sustainable and accessible health and care system which supports people of all ages: to maintain and improve their physical and mental wellbeing, to live independently and well, and to provide access to high quality care whenever they need it. To achieve this we need to deliver care in our communities which is proactive, joined up, cost-effective, and helps to prevent ill-health and promote wellbeing. And we need to tackle the wider causes of inequality.
In producing this plan we have drawn on our collective experience and learning in responding to Covid-19 and these challenges. Through further engagement with voluntary sector partners, with our staff and with resident and community voices, and continued partnership, we will continue to develop our plans.