SOUTH LONDON CHILDREN’S CENTRES LINK WITH GP SURGERY TO LAUNCH GROUNDBREAKING INITIATIVE
Helping Families to Tackle Loneliness, Stress and Money Worries
A new partnership between local GP services and Children’s Centres in Thamesmead (in the London Borough of Greenwich) is set to transform how families are supported when presenting with non-medical needs.
Once a week, the Children’s Centre Family Hub Coordinator will facilitate a pop-up ‘Rainbow Café’ at nearby Gallions Reach NHS Health Centre, offering a welcoming and stigma-free space for families seeking guidance on a variety of life challenges.
Support will include food redistribution to strengthen social and environmental impact, wellbeing activities, and clear pathways into wider Children’s Centre services. Staff will also offer help and signposting on issues such as domestic abuse, financial management and job-seeking.
The partnership focuses on addressing key non-medical challenges increasingly seen in primary care, such as loneliness, financial pressures, and reduced wellbeing. Figures suggest that currently, roughly 70 – 80% of GP appointments are for non-medical issues.
By embedding Children’s Centre provision directly within a GP setting, families will have easier access to practical, preventative support alongside their healthcare. Creating a consistent and trusted presence within the surgery, the programme aims to strengthen community connections, reduce pressure on GP services, and improve long-term outcomes for families.
Crucially, both the space and the staffing of the café are being offered free-of-charge.
This innovative co-location approach brings together primary care and community-based universal support through an integrated, early intervention approach aligned with the upcoming Best Start Family Hubs model.
Speaking at the recent launch of the Family Hub, Lisa Walsh, Strategic Lead, East Children’s Centres commented, “This GP partnership is a real testament to what can be achieved when professionals come together with a shared commitment to families. From the outset, there has been genuine openness, trust and a determination on all sides to make this work.
“It feels like a significant step forward for how we support families together here in Thamesmead.”
Eugenia Lee, GP Principal, Gallions Reach Health Centre, added, “A simple conversation sparked something truly powerful.
“From the initial meeting, Waterways Children’s Centre and Thamesmead Medical Associates, have been creating a new outreach children’s hub right inside the heart of primary care, bringing support, connection, and essential services such as stay and play, and heat and eat seasonal food bank provisions, directly to families who need it most.” Children’s centres in Greenwich are run by charitable social enterprise GLL in partnership with the local authority.
For more information on GLL’s children’s centres, go to https://www.better.org.uk/children-centre
