The Grenfell Health and Wellbeing service on the fifth anniversary of the fire

Survivors and the bereaved of Grenfell are working together with the NHS to improve the health and wellbeing of its diverse communities, as London marks the 5^th anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Run by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, the Grenfell Health and Wellbeing service was created with the bereaved, survivors and local community organisations aiming to look after the long-term health needs of those affected.

Tailored to the community, the NHS service provides access to a range of culturally appropriate emotional and physical services reflective of the diverse local community, with services including trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), bereavement counselling and therapy, arts psychotherapies as well as providing support including housing, financial, employment and education.

On 14 June 2017, 72 people passed away in the worst UK residential fire since the Second World War. Eighty per cent were from ethnic minority backgrounds.

After the fire, the NHS service proactively contacted those in the community offering screening to identify people who could benefit from its support. In the five years since, 4,771 adults and 1,476 children and young people have been referred to the service, with 400 adults and 100 children continuing to receive care.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is one of the wealthiest areas in the country, but this disguises the many health and social inequalities in North Kensington, where Grenfell Tower and the affected communities are.

Ahead of the fifth anniversary and in acknowledgment that people living in more deprived locations such as Grenfell are at an increased risk of healthcare inequalities, Dr Bola Owolabi, GP and Director – Healthcare Inequalities Improvement at NHS England visited Grenfell to see how care for those at risk of healthcare inequalities can be improved by working in partnership with communities.

Dr Bola Owolabi said: “The NHS Grenfell Health and Wellbeing service is an excellent example of what can be achieved when the NHS works in close partnership with the communities they serve. I am so pleased I got to meet the team that made it happen ahead of this landmark occasion – especially the Community Connectors, who through their lived experience, help others – which is inspirational.”

The NHS service is strengthened by ‘Community Connectors’, local people such as Nick Burton, a resident of Grenfell Tower of 33 years whose wife Pily passed away due to the fire, who empower local communities to shape and own their health and wellbeing.

Nick said: “It’s been very difficult. I’ve been in therapy. The journey I’ve been on, I know that it works. It works for me. I understand that I needed that. Other people in the community, they may need the service but they don’t know how to engage with it. You go around the community, you meet up with people and it’s a little bit easier to talk to us. What we’re doing is engaging with the community, going out to the community and saying that we’re here.”

One of those benefiting from the service, Ellis Hunte, a Grenfell resident and volunteer who participates in the community garden explained: “All community members have the opportunity to come and have access to the garden which brings us, as people, together and perhaps break down the barriers and stigma that may be in the community. I’ve realised the opportunities that have come out of such a sad situation like the Grenfell fire has given others the opportunity to have some kind of healing and it’s all about healing.”