Start Well

Start Well supports children and younger people and aims to:

“address inequalities in health and wellbeing which have been amplified by the Covid crisis, and in doing so to ‘think family, whole family’”

The Start Well workstream focusses on addressing the needs and inequalities that

children, young people and families in Southwark face, which have been amplified by the Covid-19 crisis.

We want to be able to demonstrate positive change and enriched lives for children, young people, expectant mothers, and families through effective leadership and working with our partners. You can see what the Start Well workstream are currently working on under ‘Start Well in action’ below.

Start Well has recently undertaken a stocktake, looking for opportunities to refresh its approach and workplans, taking into account the learning from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Within Start Well there is an established Southwark Children and Young People’s Partnership group which brings together health, care, the voluntary and community sector and service user and community representatives with an interest in children, young people and their families. This group drives collaboration and engagement across partners to support the work of Start Well.

We take a population-based approach to our work based on the life-course of children and young people and will work closely with Live Well as our young people transition to adulthood and in the context of our ‘whole family approach’, a family-led strategy that provides adults and children with the tools they need to set goals together, create plans, and to achieve those goals. Our work therefore focuses on babies and toddlers (ages 0-5), primary school children (5-11), secondary school students (11-18) and young adults (18-25).

To help frame our work we have developed a set of ‘outcome statements’ we are seeking to shape and evolve with input from service users, cares and families. 

The Start Well Leadership Team are:

  • Genette Laws, Director of Commissioning Children’s and Adults’ Services, Southwark Council
  • Dr Rob Davidson, GP Clinical Lead for Southwark, SEL CCG Governing Body
  • Bidisha Lahoti, Consultant, Lead for Neurodisability and Clinical Director for Children’s Services, GSTT Evelina London.