Our Role in Healthcare & Wellness

Supporting the Wider Healthcare System

The health of our local community is a shared responsibility, and at The Keepers, we recognise our essential function in supporting the wider healthcare system. Our mission is to help our local communities stay well, active, and connected, by playing a crucial role in relieving pressure on frontline healthcare services and improving overall access to wellness.

Our philosophical approach is firmly aligned with both national and local health strategies, positioning us as a vital partner in creating a healthier, more sustainable future for Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire and beyond.

Aligning with National Health Strategy

We actively support the two core strategic shifts outlined in the NHS 10-Year Health Plan for England:

• From Sickness to Prevention: The national goal is to shift focus from treatment to preventing ill health and reducing the gap in healthy life expectancy. At The Keepers, we directly achieve this by:

  • Fostering a proactive community wellness culture, ensuring wellbeing is a foundation of The Keepers.

  • Running programmes (like providing healthy meals through our community freezer, hosting NHS clinics and supporting wellness groups) that give people the access to make informed health choices.

  • Working across the community to build a cross-societal energy on prevention.
    

• From Hospital to Community: The Keepers embodies the neighbourhood health service model, complementing NHS efforts by ensuring immediate, on-the-ground assistance and early action.

  The Keepers acts as a crucial local hub by:

  • Providing essential wellness and support services directly in the local area, reducing the need for clinical intervention.

  • Serving as a key part of the care decentralisation, delivering support as locally as it can be.

  • Helping to reduce demand on clinical services by addressing the social and wellbeing issues that often lead to health crises.

Meeting Gloucestershire's Local Priorities

On a local level, The Keepers' work directly supports the three strategic pillars set out by NHS Gloucestershire:

1. Making Gloucestershire a Better Place for the Future: Our primary focus is on prevention and addressing the wider determinants of health in rural communities—the social, economic, and environmental factors that profoundly influence wellbeing. We empower individuals to take an active role in their own health and care, helping people stay healthy, independent and connected for as long as possible.

2. Transforming What We Do: We contribute to achieving equity in outcomes, experience, and access by working within our immediate locality to mitigate the factors that cause unfair differences in health and wellbeing. By offering direct, accessible, low-barrier community support—such as support groups and tackling social isolation—we reach individuals whose life circumstances may otherwise prevent them from easily engaging with traditional health settings.

3. Improving Health and Care Services Today: We support primary care providers by proactively addressing community-level needs through our wellness and social groups. This early intervention helps to reduce the flow of non-clinical issues into GP practices and provides them with a trusted, local community resource to which they can confidently signpost patients for tailored social support and wellness activities.

An Essential Function: Improving Access & Outcomes

The Keepers operates as a core component of the community's health infrastructure, establishing an essential access point for local residents that perfectly complements the formal NHS.

We directly support healthcare professionals and the resilience of the One Gloucestershire workforce by:

• Acting as a dedicated social and well-being resource, thereby reducing the influx of non-clinical, prevention-related inquiries into GP practices and other clinical services.

• Providing accessible, low-barrier support that ensures clinical staff can reserve their expertise for patients with the greatest and most complex needs.

• Serving as a trusted community partner that strengthens the overall capacity of the local health system to deliver care effectively.

Our health and well-being services address the community's needs holistically and serve as the local resource hub for wellness:

• Addressing Physical Health & Mobility: We provide local fitness & mobility classes, and community walking groups to promote active lifestyles, support movement, and help residents manage long-term conditions through non-clinical activity.

• Combating Social Isolation & Loneliness: We host peer support groups and mental well-being workshops to foster vital social connection and directly reduce isolation—a crucial social determinant of health.

• Nutrition and Food Security: We support health and nutrition by providing healthy meals through our community freezer, offering practical support to vulnerable residents and tackling local food insecurity challenges.

• Building Community Resilience: Our social clubs and community projects ensure no one is left behind, actively building a sense of belonging that is foundational to both mental and physical health.

• Signposting and Navigation: We provide essential guidance and connect individuals with appropriate local resources, ensuring they can access the right support for their complex needs without overburdening primary care services.

Through this work, The Keepers ensures that wellness is not just an aspiration, but a local, everyday reality, solidifying our position as a vital and essential ally to the NHS in Gloucestershire.