The council’s tackling loneliness strategy and work to improve the health of the homeless has been recognised with gold and silver awards in the prestigious iESE public sector transformation awards.
The prestigious National iESE public sector transformation awards recognise innovation and transformation in local government. Bromley Council received a Gold award for the Community and Customer Focus category in recognition of its multi-agency Tackling Loneliness strategy and in addition, along with health partners, also received a Silver award in the Working Together category for the Bromley Homeless Health Project.
Councillor Mike Botting, the Mayor of Bromley and the council’s Loneliness Member Champion said, “This award recognises what we are all doing and our thanks goes to those who are reaching out in support of others. Every day, ordinary people in our borough do extraordinary things, to support each other, as part of voluntary and faith groups and as individuals and on behalf of the many who have been affected by loneliness, thank you for reaching out. Thank you for your passing friendly smile, thank you for volunteering. You do make a difference and we will very much continue our mission to support all those who are impacted by loneliness in big ways or small.”
Councillor Diane Smith, Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Health said, “We are absolutely delighted that our work to tackle loneliness has been acknowledged by the Gold award. Loneliness as we all recognise, can and will affect many of us in our life time and Bromley is proud that with our partners we have developed a strategy and have a plan in place which helps to positively impact the health and wellbeing of our community. I am delighted as well that our work with Health and series of initiatives to improve the health of the homeless has also been acknowledged.”
The council’s initiative to tackle loneliness, which started in 2019, addresses the profound impact of loneliness and social isolation on residents' lives. Initially, over 200 voluntary groups, partners and stakeholders contributed to the co-production of the strategy, underlining the partnership approach. The strategy, launched in 2022, prioritised connecting organisations and services, building community infrastructure for social connections, and fostering a culture that encourages strong social relationships. These priorities ensured a holistic approach to combating loneliness.
Now, a multi-agency action plan is published quarterly with over 629 agencies supporting this, including libraries, care homes, children and family centres, schools, colleges, sports groups, faith groups, carers organisations and other groups. For example, partners have opened up 96 venues/halls and spaces so that activities can be run in these spaces. Visit https://www.bromley.gov.uk/loneliness for further information, including to get connected with groups across the borough.
The Bromley Homeless Health Project seeks to encourage homeless people to access health services in order to better understand their own health needs and at the same time be linked into other services, e;g housing, voluntary sector organisations. As part of this a clinic provides healthcare for homeless people, offering a range of treatments and support to manage common health issues. The clinic, which started several years ago as a winter healthcare initiative by Bromley GP Alliance, has been located within the Bromley Homeless Shelter since March 2023 and is available all year round through funding from the One Bromley Local Care Partnership.
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For media enquiries, please contact Andrew Rogers, Head of Public Affairs, on 020 8461 7670 or email Andrew.Rogers@bromley.gov.uk.