NHS Direct 0845 4647
NHS Direct is a 24 hour nurse-led helpline providing confidential healthcare advice and information on:
- what to do if you are feeling ill
- health concerns for you and your family
- local health services
- self-help and support organisations.
NHS Direct website
On the NHS Direct website you can look up a wide range of health topics, refer to the self-help guide for information on medical conditions and treatments, and browse the A-Z directory of NHS services.
You can search for contact details of your local:
- general practitioner
- dentist
- optician
- walk in centre
- hospital.
If you can’t get out for your prescriptions, your GP Practice Manager should be able to arrange for them to be delivered to your home. Call your GP surgery.
A new, free, air quality information service is now available for Lewisham residents and people who work in the borough and who suffer from asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, heart disease or angina. It involves text messages or voicemails being sent to residents who sign up to the service on days when air quality is considered moderate or high. Go to www.airtext.info to sign up.
The following opticians provide a service for people who cannot travel without help in the community. For further information contact:
K.A Rowland
112 Rushey Green, Catford London SE6
tel: 020 8690 7734
Ashby Opticians
54 Lee High Road, Lee, London SE12
tel:020 8852 5864
A Hawes and Sons
225 Lewisham High Street, Lewisham London SE13
tel:020 8852 5864
Mobile Optical Services
Mobile teams provide on-site eye care for people who cannot travel without help in the community. They will visit to all areas but only provide a service for those people who are housebound and have not had their eyes tested in the last year. For further information:
tel: 0800 731 0031
There are two qualified signers for deaf and hard of hearing customers who will be able to help you with any enquiry. They are based at:
AccessPoint
Ground Floor, Laurence House
1 Catford Road, London
SE6 4RU
For more information see the Where to go for help section.
For more information see the Where to go for help section.
Lewisham Sport and Leisure Service makes sure that there are suitable physical activity, sport and leisure services for those living in, working in and visiting the borough. They work in partnership with private organisations and community groups to get the best deal for local people and provide a range of programmes. These include those below.
tel: 020 8314 8499
The Lewisham Plus Card is valid for one year and costs £2.00 for priority customers. Priority customers are those aged 16 years and above and living or studying in the borough and receiving benefits (including Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance, Housing Benefit, Family Tax Credit, Council Tax Rebate, Rent Allowance and Asylum Seekers Allowance), or are pensioners, students or a disabled person in receipt of benefits.
With a card you can get 25 per cent off the full adult price on all the following activities in Council run leisure centres and parks during opening hours:
- public swimming at all times in all pools
- use of fitness studios
- squash
- activity classes (such as aerobics)
- individual use of Athletics Track
- hire of tennis courts (where a charge is currently made)
- twenty-five per cent off for last three hours of play at Beckenham Place Park Golf Course.
Pensioners and disabled people on benefits are also entitled to:
- free swimming
- free use of fitness suites (but not the cost of induction)
- free use of the Athletics Track at Ladywell Arena.
You can apply for a Lewisham Plus Card at any library or council-run leisure centre in Lewisham. For an application form and more information contact Lewisham Sport and Leisure.
50+ scheme
50 Plus days are held at the Bridge Leisure Centre on Wednesdays and at Wavelengths Leisure Centre on Mondays. On offer are swimming, bowling or exercising in the fitness suites.
Please contact the Bridge Leisure Centre or Wavelengths Leisure Centre for further details.
The vegebank scheme ensures that vegetables, grown through a programme of work with local schools and pupils, are shared with local residents. The aim of the project is to increase the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables people eat. The project includes activities such as community lunches, fruit tasting for under fives and a direct delivery scheme to housebound older people living in Downham.
Many older people living in Downham have huge amounts of knowledge and skills concerning gardening, nutrition, healthy eating and cooking. This knowledge will be passed to younger people, already involved in growing the produce, as part of an intergenerational skills exchange.
The Downham Elderly Health Project and the Downham Nutrition Partnership were awarded neighbourhood renewal funding to develop and run this project.
Ros Spinks
ros.spinks@lycos.co.uk
tel: 020 8461 4300
Lewisham Healthy Walks organises short walks in parks and open spaces of the Borough led by Volunteer Walk Leaders. It operates within the guidelines of the national Walking the Way to Health initiative. The aim is to increase the activity levels of older people who don’t get out much, but all are welcome and the walks are arranged so that people of most abilities will benefit.
The health benefits of walking are well known. We think the social benefits are almost as important.
If you are interested please ring for an information pack. This includes a Health Questionnaire for you to complete before your first walk – you may need to seek medical advice before increasing your activity levels. For further details and an information pack contact Lewisham Healthy Walks.
tel: 020 7188 2837 ext 82838
LOOP provides physical activity projects for people over 50 years of age, such as aqua aerobics, circuit classes, bingo, board games, line dancing and seated exercise. Also LOOP runs a drop-in advice morning, healthy living clinic, and advice and guidance on risk factors that lead to coronary heart disease. LOOP is a partnership with Community Education Lewisham and New Deal for Communities.
Mornington Crescent, Stanley Street, Deptford, London, SE8 4BL
tel: 020 8694 3695
A dietician from University Hospital Lewisham runs supermarket shopping tours in the Borough of Lewisham to help people make healthy and informed choices on nutrition.
The tours are open to anyone who wishes to know more about eating for better health. You may want to join a tour if, for example, you are at risk of heart disease, you have diabetes, you need to lose weight, or you are unsure about making cost-effective food choices for your family.
They provide a very useful demonstration of selecting healthier, low-cost foods, and how to understand food labelling. Several supermarkets throughout the Borough participate in the project. If you would like to find out more about the project or attend a supermarket tour contact:
Dietetic Secretary, Nutrition and Dietetic Department, University Hospital Lewisham, London, SE13 6lH
tel: 020 8333 3314
We organise a reminiscence group, health library and relaxation tapes, women’s swimming, elderflower group, benefit advice and counselling. We also arrange holidays for the elderly. Staff members can speak English, Somali, Vietnamese and French.
tel: 020 8695 8270
The Lewisham Neighbourhood Renewal Programme with South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, fund a time bank initiative.
Time Banks are a mutual volunteering scheme. By volunteering in your local community you earn time credits that you can use if you need help. For example, if you spend an hour befriending someone, you earn one time credit that you can spend if you need a lift, or need someone to mow your lawn. The most popular activities within Time Banks are often DIY, befriending, learning new skills, such as a languages, sewing, giving lifts, shopping, and gardening. There are a huge range of activities you can get involved in.
Time Banks are also used as a way of acknowledging and rewarding people who take an active part in community activities, such as organising social events, advising other community members, street cleaning and graffiti removal.
The daily running of the Time Bank is done by the time broker, whose role it is to recruit new members, match people up and keep a record of people's time credit accounts.
The three main principles of time banks are:
- equality: everybody's time is worth the same, regardless of the activity offered
- mutuality: everybody has something to give, and everybody is a giver and a receiver
- co-production: the only way for the project to succeed is if the beneficiaries of the project are involved in the project itself, and the project recognises and draws upon the resources of the beneficiaries.
If you would like to get involved in the Time Bank scheme or would like to find out further information call your local time bank:
Rushey Green Time Bank
Rushey Green Group Practice, Liz Hoare
tel: 079 4641 1177
Bellingham Time Bank
Churches Together in Bellingham, Fr. Paul Butler
tel: 020 8698 3291
Deptford and New Cross Time Bank
South East London Economic Development Agency, Maria Drury
tel: 020 8692 7777
Access for Living supports people with learning disabilities and their families. It provides outreach services for individuals living with their families or on their own as well as supported living.
Most referrals are via social workers but can be accessed directly.
tel:020 8690 1267
If you have a health condition such as diabetes, heart problems, hypertension or depression your GP can refer you to an exercise classed designed to help that condition. Called the Exercise on referral scheme, a range of exercise classes if available including aqua aerobics and circuit training, and you can have a gym exercise programme tailor-made for your specific needs. The exercises tend to be low intensity and are aimed at people in their 40s or 50s and older.
tel: 020 8314 8208