Lancaster CVS Directory

Lancaster District CVS has been working for fifty years to support the people and organisations who support communities across the Lancaster district. While the challenges that communities face have changed, new ideas and technologies bring fresh ways to respond.

We are working in partnership with healthcare colleagues to launch a new project funded by the BHCP Population Health Investment Fund which will create a directory of services delivered in our community, available online for everyone to use. Alongside this, a social prescribing hub and link worker inside LDCVS is being set up to receive electronic referrals from staff in GP surgeries to help patients find the non-clinical support they need.

Implementation of online tools from social prescribing software provider Elemental makes this all possible, with entries on the directory drawn from the same database of services which we will use to link people up with voluntary organisations offering services in the Lancaster district. We've been busy working to populate this with the huge variety of activities available, and currently have over 120 different support opportunities listed.

We'll not only be encouraging the general public to browse the directory to find helpful services - it will also be a valuable tool for people in all sorts of roles out there across the district who want to signpost clients, service-users or community members to sources of support.

We're on the cusp of launching this new service for our district and look forward to sharing it far and wide. To find out more and watch a helpful video explaining the features of this project, visit www.lancastercvs.org.uk/directory - where you'll also find a link to the directory website as soon as it launches. Do share the video with contacts and colleagues - we're keen to let people know what's on offer.