South London Listens
Impact Report 2025 - 2026

South London Listens: South London Acts.

A Community-powered approach to prevention, equity and neighbourhood health.

South London Listens is a partnership between NHS South East London and NHS South West London Integrated Care Boards, South London’s three Mental Health Trusts, local authorities, Citizens UK and communities across south London. Together, the partners are working to understand and address deep rooted health inequalities through tackling the social, economic and environmental factors that shape health and wellbeing across South London.

Originally established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, South London Listens has evolved into a long-term programme that helps communities and public services work together to tackle the root causes of poor health and mental ill-health. Through community organising, listening and partnership working, the programme identifies barriers to health, develops community leadership and supports practical action across health, local government and the voluntary sector.

Between 2020 and 2023, over 6,000 people were engaged through large-scale listening campaigns. Community priorities informed commitments made by NHS Trusts and Councils at landmark assemblies, with South London Listens driving these into action.

Since then, the programme has grown: over 10,000 people have been listened to, 900 community leaders trained, and progress made on more than 40 community-led pledges. Together, the statutory organisations leading this work have helped shift how mental health and prevention is understood and delivered. Pledges made have developed into co-developed projects moving beyond services alone to address housing, work, access to care, social connection and neighbourhood wellbeing.

Why this matters

The programme directly supports the ambitions of the NHS 10-Year Plan by strengthening prevention, reducing health inequalities, supporting neighbourhood health models and improving access to services for communities who are often underserved by traditional approaches.

Health outcomes are shaped by far more than access to healthcare alone. Housing insecurity, social isolation, financial hardship, poor employment conditions, digital exclusion and barriers to accessing support all have a significant impact on physical and mental health. South London Listens helps organisations understand these issues directly from communities and work collectively to address them.

By identifying need earlier, strengthening community assets and building stronger connections between residents and services, South London Listens supports a shift from responding to illness towards preventing it. The programme helps organisations reach people who may otherwise struggle to access support, improving equity and helping reduce avoidable escalation into crisis services.

As the NHS looks ahead, through neighbourhood health models and an increased focus on prevention, the joint leadership of the ICBs and the three mental health trusts provides a strong foundation. South London Listens shows how listening can be embedded at scale and how community leadership and mobilisation can strengthen systems and neighbourhood health approaches; demonstrating how tackling the root causes of poor mental health is not separate from NHS priorities, but essential to achieving them.

What South London Listens delivered in 2025–2026

During 2025–2026, South London Listens continued to demonstrate how community-led action can contribute to healthier communities and stronger public services.

Key achievements included:

Working with approximately 5,000 people every month through the growing Be Well network, operating across more than 100 community settings in South London.
Strengthening partnerships between the NHS, local authorities and communities to address housing-related health inequalities and improve housing advocacy and support.
Expanding access to mental health support for refugees, migrants and asylum seekers through the Community Embedded Practitioner model, helping people access support earlier and more effectively.
Continuing to champion good work, fair pay and Living Wage adoption across health and care organisations, recognising the strong relationship between financial security, wellbeing and population health.
Improving support for children, young people and families through co-produced resources, culturally responsive approaches and innovative early intervention programmes.

This Impact Report 2025-2026 reflects the shared leadership, partnership and growing ambition that South London Listens has. It tells the story of communities organising for change, public institutions listening more deeply, and ICBs and mental health trusts working with partners to build a healthier, fairer South London together.