Wandsworth's Health and Wellbeing Board has reviewed significant progress made across its Age Well strategy priorities, with positive developments reported in falls prevention, dementia support, and efforts to combat social isolation. The strategy, a key component of the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy, aims to ensure older residents, carers, and those with long-term conditions can remain independent, connected, and well.
Falls Prevention Efforts Yield Results
Initiatives focused on falls prevention have shown encouraging outcomes, contributing to a 12.3% reduction in emergency admissions for falls among residents aged 65 and over compared to the baseline period of July 2022 - June 2023. This represents a reduction of 87 emergency admissions for the period July 2025 - June 2026. A further 4.3% reduction was observed in the last four months alone.
These positive developments are attributed to several key initiatives:
- Improved access to Urgent Community Response (UCR) services: Care homes now have better access to UCR falls pick-up services, enabling timely intervention and reducing avoidable conveyances.
- Embedding technology and targeted support: Acoustic monitoring and targeted support have been embedded within care homes as part of the South West London Integrated Care Board's enhanced health in care homes programme. This has a particular focus on homes with higher falls rates or those with no-pick-up policies.
- Data-driven approach: Population health and care management data are being utilised to ensure falls recovery services are accessible and integrated with adult social care information, fostering a system-wide response.
- Community-based activities: Approximately 6,000 attendances have been recorded for falls prevention activities, including classes and support delivered by various voluntary sector agencies. The report highlights a ratio of
10 classes for four people
for every fall, underscoring the proactive approach. - Digital inclusion: Efforts in digital inclusion are supporting greater utilisation of care technology, such as falls alarms.
- Integrated Falls and Bone Health Service: This service, operated by St George's Hospital, offers one-to-one support and classes, with options for self-referral.
- Review of UCR services: Urgent Community Response services are undergoing review to establish integrated provision and ensure efficient utilisation.
These combined efforts have led to a significant narrowing of variation in falls rates across care homes, with only one care home now reporting high London Ambulance Service incident rates.
Dementia Support Strengthened
Wandsworth continues to exceed national ambitions for dementia diagnosis rates, with 77.56% of residents diagnosed. This rate surpasses the national ambition of 67% and the local target. The current national ambition for dementia diagnosis rates is 67%.
A refreshed Living with Dementia, Getting Help in Wandsworth
guide has been published, serving as a comprehensive resource for residents, carers, and professionals. This guide is available as a PDF on the council's dementia page and has been well-received across health, social care, and the voluntary care sector for its clarity on available services and their connections. Its distribution is managed through promotion across Wandsworth Council, Wandsworth Care Alliance, and partner organisations.
Support services for people living with dementia and their carers are delivered through various partnerships. These include collaborations with the Alzheimer's Society, which provides Dementia Advisors and the 'Side by Side' befriending service, and the Wandsworth Carers' Centre, offering dementia cafes and peer support. The Memory Assessment Service provides assessments and a 'Life After Diagnosis' program, while Royal Trinity Hospice plays a role in identifying carers and signposting them to support. Enhanced support within care homes is being progressed through digital developments, including Universal Care Plans and interactive technology, aligning with the Enhanced Health in Care Homes framework.
Combating Social Isolation
Progress in reducing social isolation has been encouraging. The proportion of adult social care users reporting as much social contact as they would like has increased to 48.9%, surpassing the England average of 45.4%. The specific metric used measures the proportion of adult social care users who have as much social contact as they would like,
with the report indicating an increase from 45.6% in 2023/24 to 48.9% in 2024/25.
The Social Prescribing Service supported nearly 1,500 local people in the past year, reporting an average improvement in wellbeing of 32.5%. Future plans include maintaining prevention and wellbeing services, improving transport and digital inclusion, and strengthening shared data and insight to identify residents at risk. The Wandsworth Adult and Young Unpaid Carers' Charter will also be actively promoted to encourage wider adoption.
Future Plans and Targets
The Age Well strategy is set to continue its focus on strengthening preventative falls services, integrating them into emerging neighbourhood health and wellbeing arrangements. For dementia, efforts will concentrate on promoting the Living with Dementia, Getting Help in Wandsworth
guide, strengthening referral pathways, and progressing Enhanced Health in Care Homes initiatives.
Specific targets for the coming year include maintaining and exceeding the dementia diagnosis rate (77%) in 2025/26, and ensuring all practices exceed the national diagnosis rate ambition of 67% in 2026/27. Awareness and understanding of local dementia support pathways are targeted for improvement in 2025/26 and 2026/27. The target for carers who have a carers review will increase to 65% in 2026/27. Furthermore, by 2027, there is a goal to achieve a 10% increase in patients with an active Universal Care Plan (UCP) and a 10% increase in care homes with UCP access.
For more detailed information on the Health and Wellbeing Board's activities, refer to the Public reports pack and Agenda frontsheet.