South East London Women’s and Girls’ Health Hubs wins national NHS Excellence Award

Shanet Lewis, Programme Lead, Public Health Lambeth Council: The Women and Girls Health Hub isn’t just a place, it’s coordinated activity by different health teams all working together to help increase access to women’s health in Lambeth.

It is a clinic that women can be referred to see a team, but it’s also events like today where we've got community education sessions happening.

It's also our health champions that are going out across the borough into communities to reach people and have conversations with women and girls about their health.

Dr Salwa Idle, Deputy Head of Gynaecology and Clinical Lead for Women's and Girls' Health Hub, Lambeth, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust: We are focusing on coming out from hospital to community. We're also focusing on preventative medicine.

This means that we are close to where women live and we can see them in a community clinic, but it also means that because we're seeing them earlier on, we can hopefully prevent a condition from becoming chronic, but also progressing.

Aimee, Lambeth resident: Before today’s appointment I felt quite in the dark about my own health.

Dr Max Kelen, GP with a special interest in women's health, Women's and Girls' Health Hub, Lambeth and Hetherington Group Practice: What we have in this clinic is we have more specialist knowledge and a bit more time to be able to come up with a few extra tricks up our sleeve, which is what I did today.

Aimee: I think having a community-based centre can make a big difference.

Dr Diana Medina, speciality doctor in sexual and reproductive health, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: Today we are talking with the community.

We are bringing the clinic to the community, using this opportunity to do an outreach and normalise conversations about family planning.

The attendees were a little bit shy maybe, but I have some prompt questions that are making the conversation more normal.

So I can see that they are interacting between each other and they are asking questions more relaxed as well.

Carla, Lambeth resident: I found this event very informative and very beneficial for the entire Latina community, since it was presented in Spanish.

Abigail Ingram, London manager and coach, Girls United Football Club: The Girls United Menstrual Health Women and Girls project was around how we can make sure that people feel more confident when on their cycle in different phases to still be active and play football.

They are at a younger age but also just ready to have those conversations I think is great.

Isabel, Girls United Football Association: Having my period which - it hasn't even come on yet, but if I did, I'd know to tell them and I wouldn't be afraid about it.

Pauline Bryan, Co-founder and CEO of Carers4Carers: We ran Menopause for Carers specifically because of the challenges that carers face, because often they're quite stressed, they're feeling burnt out, and they're unable to distinguish between menopause symptoms and caregiving and the stress that that causes.

Carer: I was trying to juggle quite a few things, being a full-time carer for 2 parents now.

Pauline: At least 3 of the women that came to the programme had really high blood pressure, and we had to send them to their doctors immediately. And in fact, one of them had to go to A&E that same day.

Carer: What I got out of coming to these sessions and I was smiling is that there were other women who, like myself, were going through the same thing.

Listening to other people's experiences, I realise now that it was all related to the menopause.

Shanet: It's good for society if women are supported. But also on an individual level we want women to be able to show up in their lives and not be inhibited by having conditions that could otherwise be treated.

Salwa: Women and girls' health done well means life-changing opportunities for both women and girls, but also a positive ripple effect through communities.

Lambeth Together: www.lambethtogether.net