Exploring Our Futures Examines South London Health and Care

Infographic from Exploring Our Futures website

Infographic from Exploring Our Futures website (click for more)

Overview

London's southern boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark want to have one of the best health and social care systems in the UK yet face considerable challenges to health and social care.

The Exploring our Futures project is preparing local services for the future, by looking at what health and care in Lambeth and Southwark might be like in 2030. The project is a collaboration between local organisations, instigated and funded by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity.

The project brings together as many people as possible with an interest in health and social care in the boroughs to think about strategic challenges that will be faced in the longer term and develop a shared understanding that will help organizations work more collaboratively in the short and medium term. Participants include members of the public, patients, health professionals, Chairs and Chief Executives of NHS bodies.

RAND Europe's Role

The project has planned a series of interactive events where participants will discuss and plan for future challenges. These events are underpinned by analysis involving RAND Europe, which will also contribute to an interactive online portal and the development of a resource that can continue to inform strategy beyond the lifetime of this project. RAND Europe is working with The King’s Fund and Idenk on this work.

The main objectives of the project are to

  • articulate some of the key drivers and dependencies within the scenarios – what would need to be true for different futures to take shape?
  • build a shared understanding within the health economy of the long-term challenges and the implications for their current plans and priorities, and
  • generate ideas for future projects to meet local needs that the Charity might fund

The project aims to engage with as many health and social care provider as possible in the two boroughs through four key events which identify

  1. current challenges for health and health and social care in Lambeth and Southwark
  2. local, national and global challenges that will face services moving forward
  3. potential future scenarios in meeting these challenges, and
  4. tested scenarios for Lambeth and Southwark
    5. Learn More (exploringourfutures.org)