The Lambeth Together Care Partnership met on Thursday 08 January 2026 to discuss progress on health and care initiatives across the borough, with a particular focus on the upcoming business plan for 2026-27 and updates on key programmes such as NHS Health Checks and integrated neighbourhood teams. Decisions were made regarding the ratification of primary care commissioning decisions and noting the progress of assurance reports.

Staying Healthy: NHS Health Checks Update

The board received an update on the progress of the Staying Healthy programme, specifically concerning NHS Health Checks. Since April 2024, a new model involving nine Primary Care Networks (PCNs) has been implemented, aiming to strengthen primary care capacity, improve consistency across the borough, and reach underserved groups. In the second quarter of 2025-26, 1,337 Health Checks were completed, a significant increase compared to the previous year, which was impacted by a cyber attack on the Synovis Lab.

Key outcomes for those who received a Health Check this quarter included:

• 23% were referred to lifestyle services or prescribed medication, with 37% prescribed statins, 11% prescribed antihypertensives, 23% referred to the National Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP), 2% referred to smoking cessation services, 1% referred to alcohol services, and 26% referred to weight management.
• 8% of patients were diagnosed with a health condition and added to appropriate registers, including hypertension (31%), diabetes (10%), chronic kidney disease (CKD) (3%), and non-diabetic hyperglycaemia (56%).
• 88% of patients were identified with a low 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, 11% with moderate risk, and 1% with high risk.

The data indicates that uptake is largely in line with the demographics of the eligible cohort, with some over-representation in the 51-60 age group and among females. However, challenges remain, including primary care capacity, improving uptake among key demographics, and infrastructure limitations for embedding new models. Actions to address these include continuing the NHS Health Check Steering Group, refining the neighbourhood working model, and evaluating national pilots for Health Checks at Work and Health Checks Online.

Lambeth Together Care Partnership - Business Plan 2026-27

The board was briefed on the ongoing business planning process for 2026-27, which aims to agree on the most important actions for the year ahead to improve local health and care services. The emerging priorities are being shaped through engagement with stakeholders, including local residents and service users. The plan influences services used by residents, how care is coordinated across health, council, and community services, and where effort and investment are focused to improve health and reduce inequalities.

The board was asked to approve and provide feedback on the draft priorities outlined in the appendix of the report and to note the timeframes for the business planning round. The draft plans will form the basis of the refreshed Lambeth Together Health and Care Plan for 2026-27. Key priorities include strengthening neighbourhood models, improving access to primary care, enhancing the primary-secondary care interface, and establishing Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs) focused on people with complex needs. The plan also aims to embed neighbourhood working within secondary care, test new financial and contractual models, and fully integrate digital solutions across neighbourhood health services.

Lambeth Primary Care Commissioning Committee Update

The board was asked to note the update from the Lambeth Primary Care Commissioning Committee (LTPCCC) and ratify decisions made on 19 November 2025. Key decisions ratified included:

• Waterloo Health Centre: Approval to extend the modular building hire for an additional five years at an annual cost of £186,000, funded via the Central Revaluation Reserve, with a three-year break clause.
• Specialist Allocation Service (formerly violent patient service): Approval of a 16.5% uplift to the contract, backdated to 3 November 2024, to address rising estates, staffing, and security costs. This uplift is financed from the delegated budget via the list size growth cash reserve and includes conditions for no further uplifts and the provider to develop an action plan to address unwarranted variation.
• Protected Learning Time (PLT): Approval of PLT clinical cover for 2025-26 (£79,125), commencement of market testing for future commissioning, and investment of £16,875 to sustain Practice Manager Forums for 2025-26 and 2026-27.
• Pavilion Practice APMS contract: Approval of Option 2, recommending the conversion of the APMS contract to a PMS contract via a competitive tender, with further patient engagement and market testing to inform the final decision.
• APMS Care Home Provider contract breach: Approval of the chair's action to breach Lambeth Healthcare Ltd due to uncooperative behaviour during the mobilisation period, with additional actions to ensure patient choice exercises are impartial and to inform patients about the ICB commissioned service.

The committee also received reports on workforce updates, primary care finance, performance, community pharmacy activity, public health contracts for NHS Health Checks and LARC, enhanced access, and the Renal & Cardiometabolic pilot.

Lambeth Together Assurance Update

The board received an update from the Lambeth Together Assurance Sub-Group and noted the associated Integrated Assurance Report presented on 25 November 2025. The report focused on three key outcomes from the 'Our Health, Our Lambeth' health and care plan:

• Outcome C: People are immunised against vaccine preventable diseases. A strategy refresh is underway, addressing declining uptake in childhood vaccinations and variations in flu vaccine uptake. Challenges include poor data quality, limited appointment availability, and misinformation. Actions include standardising call/recall, improving data flows, and expanding community-led programmes.
• Outcome F: People receive early diagnosis and support on physical health conditions. Lambeth has met targets for serious mental illness (SMI) and learning disability (LD) health checks, with ongoing efforts to improve uptake among specific demographics. Local audits identified non-attendees were disproportionately male and within certain age and ethnic groups. Actions include targeted support and data quality improvements. Cancer screening rates show mixed progress, with improvements in bowel and breast cancer screening but stable or declining rates for cervical cancer.
• Outcome N: People using mental health support services can recover and stay well, with the right support, and can participate on an equal footing in daily life. The Living Well Network Alliance's (LWNA) Individual Placement and Support (IPS) service is helping people with SMI find and sustain employment. The Community Living and Support Service (CLaSS) is supporting people to leave inpatient care. However, restrictive incidents and seclusions on inpatient settings have increased, with a disproportionate number affecting Black service users. Actions include using the PCREF framework to build trust and improve access.

The Integrated Assurance Report also provided an overview of finance, quality, and risk across the Lambeth Together Health and Care Plan. The borough reported an overall £251k year-to-date overspend position, with a forecast breakeven position after budget equalisation. Key risks include CAMHS waiting times, diagnostic waiting times for neurodiversity assessments, and financial pressures within mental health services and prescribing.

Place Executive Lead Report

Andrew Eyres, Place Executive Lead Lambeth, presented an update on key developments. The report highlighted the continued focus on 'Our Health, Our Lambeth,' the borough's health and care plan, which aligns with the government's 10-year health plan shifts from hospital to community, sickness to prevention, and analogue to digital. Progress has been made in developing Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs) for residents with complex needs, with initial roll-outs anticipated from April 2026.

The report also detailed updates on the ICB change programme and reform, with a proposed clustering arrangement for South East and South West London ICBs, sharing a Chair, Chief Executive, and Executive team. The Lambeth Health and Wellbeing Bus continues to engage with residents, gathering feedback on health and care priorities. Winter planning is in place, with four priority programmes implemented to manage system pressures. Vaccination uptake for flu is slightly higher than last year in four out of five cohorts.

Specific highlights from delivery alliances included the opening of the Women and Girls' Health Hub, progress in refreshing the community service offer for the Living Well Network Alliance, and steady progress on integrated neighbourhood teams for children and young people. The National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) is underway, with co-design workshops defining priority cohorts and service models. The Lambeth Together Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Group is overseeing the adoption of the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) and has been involved in various campaigns addressing health inequalities.

Decisions taken by the Lambeth Place Executive Lead under SEL ICB delegation included contract awards for Positive Behavioural Support, termination of a contract for Population Health Management Business Intelligence, funding for winter schemes, contract variations for domiciliary cardiology diagnostics, and transfer of integrator development funding.

Other discussions

The meeting also included updates on the Lambeth Together Assurance Group, which reviewed progress against key outcomes related to immunisation, early diagnosis of physical health conditions, and mental health support. The Integrated Assurance Report provided an overview of finance, quality, and risk. The report highlighted a £251k year-to-date overspend position for Lambeth, with a forecast breakeven after budget equalisation. Key risks included CAMHS waiting times and financial pressures in mental health services.

The board was asked to note the report from the Lambeth Together Assurance Sub-Group and the associated Integrated Assurance Report.