Mapping and Community Engagement is made up of three projects.

Day centres for people who are homeless in south London: Responses to the COVID-19 crisis 

Project lead: Caroline Green

An article has been published from this study (see under Outputs).

Caring in company: A pre-Covid snapshot of day centres in south London

Report of a mapping exercise of publicly available information from four south London boroughs.

May 2021

Project lead: Katharine Orellana

Day services support the wellbeing and health of people with social care and support needs who want to live at home. Their staff and volunteers offer companionship, care, advice and support. Centres have different purposes and support different groups of people, often from diverse backgrounds. They support older people, people living with dementia, people with long-term disabilities, people needing mental health support, family carers, people experiencing homelessness or who have palliative care needs.

Our new report Caring in company: a pre-Covid snapshot of day centres in south London. Report of a mapping exercise of publicly available information from four south London boroughs reveals how hard it is to find information about these services. With websites an increasingly important information source for us all, work is needed to make day centres more visible to those who may benefit from them.

See also: our introduction to the report on the Unit blog.

Please send any feedback or comments to: Katharine.Orellana@kcl.ac.uk.

Helping day centres to 'unlock lockdown'

July 2020

 Project lead: Katharine Orellana

Most day centres temporarily closed to regular users, from March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because adult day centres are not a regulated service, and tend to be invisible in terms of guidance provided, we have put together Helping adult day centres to ‘unlock lockdown’. This document aims to support manager or voluntary co-ordinators and staff generally, into the ‘new normal’ after the lockdown.

Part 1 covers some of the practicalities of re-opening. It draws on guidance related to Coronavirus and on other social care guidance, and relevant guidance, advice, and action points for regulated settings, some of which is also relevant to day centres. Sections cover: infection control, communications, supporting staff and volunteers, and yourself, final things providers are likely to want to do before re-opening, there is a practical scenario planning tool and a list of source documents and further resources.

Part 2 prompts providers to reflect on what has happened, what else you may wish to think about, the process of moving forwards and any learning that will be helpful for the future. Individual sections can be completed according to the stage providers are in.

Please email Katharine.Orellana@kcl.ac.uk to let us know if you have found this document useful or can suggest any changes. we would be very happy to receive your completed Part 2 document as we are keen to learn how COVID-19 has impacted on day centres.

See also: our discussion on the re-opening of day centres on the Unit blog.

Update (21 February 2021) Blog post by Kritika Samsi and Jill Manthorpe: 'Next steps for day centres in south London as they reset, rebuild and renew from the COVID-19 pandemic'