Helping Grenfell Tower Residents and Immediate Neighbours

15 Marylebone Road

London

NW1 5JD

Tel: 020 3350 4000

Email:

Saturday, 27 October 2018

Dear colleague

Helping Grenfell Tower residents and immediate neighbours

We are writing to tell you about the NHS response to the terrible events at Grenfell Tower. There is a fuller report at the end of this letter. We also want to tell you about the future.

We will work with local people so that the services are designed to reflect the diverse needs of individuals and communities in North Kensington and surrounding areas.

These services will be developed and delivered by the local NHS working with and on behalf of the local community, in collaboration with wider wellbeing services. A priority is to support and develop community resilience so they also have the skills and resources to support themselves.

We would like to meet you to update you on the work the NHS has carried out so far and we would ask if you would like to be involved in co-designing the NHS response as we move forward. Please contact us if you wish to do so.

A wide range of community and voluntary organisations, and individual members of the community came forward to help in such difficult circumstances. It has been a privilege to work alongside them and we pay tribute to them and thank them for their fantastic work. We could not have done as much without their assistance. We also recognise that there are many we are yet to speak to.

Our approach is aimed at building recovery and resilience, and supporting the community and voluntary sector to support a wider range of services. This will allow them to coordinate community engagement, deliver local activities and the long-term work of co-designing the local NHS.

This work is likely to be ongoing through the coming months, and years, and I assure you the NHS is committed to do all it can for those that need it.

Our outreach has been visiting people in their own spaces, including local estates, and the hotels where displaced residents are staying and will continue to do so. Local GP practices are prioritising Grenfell patents, offering extended appointment timesfor their physical and mental health needs. People who need urgent mental health can call the NHS Single Point of Access line: 0800 0234 650. It is open 24/7.

The response team, previously based at the Westway Centre, has moved around the corner to The Curve, 10 Bard Road, W10 6TP. It has additional space and easy access, and offers support and a safe meeting place from 10am to 8pm every day.

I will keep you informed regularly, but please do contact me if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely

Louise Proctor
Managing Director
NHS West London Clinical Commissioning Group / Robyn Doran
Chief Operating Officer
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Helping Grenfell Tower residents and immediate neighbours - briefing

NHS Immediate response

The NHS has been on the ground at the Grenfell Community Assistance Centre (Westway) from day one, providing immediate medical help and assistance, listening to people telling us about their experiences, and finding out what they need most from their NHS.

NHS organisations worked together include:

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) providing emotional and psychological support with the support of West London Mental Health Trust.
Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH) District Nurses and Health and Social Care Assistants from My Care, My Way.
London Central and West Unscheduled Care Collaborative (LCW) who run the NHS 111 and GP out of hours service pulling it all together with community and voluntary organisations.

The NHS has been giving emotional support and health advice, referring people on to relevant services or support networks, and often simply providing people with space and time to talk. When needed, more specialist mental health support has been provided.

It is very clear that that the NHS needs to go to the people who need us. The NHS outreach team will continue to visit people in their own spaces, including local estates, and the hotels where displaced residents are staying.

Outreach means:

Providing a listening ear.
Helping people arrange GP appointments, either at their own surgery or, if an urgent appointment is needed and there isn’t one available, at the St Charles Integrated Care Centre GP Access Hub on Exmoor Street.
Signposting or referring people to suitable services in the community which are right for them.
Health Visitors proactively contacting every displaced family with young children.

As of Wednesday 19 July 2017, the NHS had 772 in-depth consultations and referrals, either at the Westway Humanitarian Centre, at home or through the 24 hour support line. Our outreach teams have knocked on 1,700 residential doors in the local area close to the Grenfell Tower, and in hotel accommodation where people have been temporarily placed. 829 have had no answer and multiple attempts have been made for the vast majority. 747 have resulted in meaningful conversations with the majority of people happy to see us and happy about the approach the NHS is taking. 24 people have asked us make follow up visits and we have made approximately 50 referrals for more specialist care.

The response team, previously based at the Westway Centre, has moved around the corner to The Curve, 4 Bard Road, W10 6TP. The additional space and easy access will offer support and a safe meeting place from 10am – 8pm every day.

NHS West London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has also been considering plans for the long-term needs in relation to the Grenfell Tower fire. We expect, for example, to see an increase in demand for mental health services over the coming months, so we are making sure sufficient resources are in place. We have also commissioned additional GP capacity at the St Charles Integrated Care Centre’s GP Access Hub, which offers appointments all day including evenings and weekends.

What will the NHS do next?

The NHS is now moving on from managing the immediate healthcare needs to consider what long-term health implications may arise for our patients. In doing this we will work with our partners – especially social care so that we deliver an integrated response.

In particular, we are expecting a rise in mental health demand over the coming weeks, months, and even years, especially in trauma-related cases.

We know it can take a long time for trauma-related conditions to emerge, and for people to seek help, so we are working hard to make sure that mental health resources are in place as they are needed.

Part of this will be a ‘screen and treat programme’ where we will reach out to the Grenfell community and assess the degree of trauma and what the best help will be (called ‘screening’); then refer them for further help as needed - emotional support or more specialised mental health treatment.