Gill Arukpe
Leo Downer
Director of Operations
Equinox Care
Leo Downer is the Director of Operations for Equinox Care, one of the founder members of the Social Interest Group.
Leo brings to Equinox Care and the Social Interest Group over 25 years of working in health, substance misuse, and regional and national crime and drug reduction. He has experience of tackling blood borne diseases in Great Ormond Street Hospital, then using this hospital experience to coordinate south London’s largest GP prescribing network for substitute opioid to reduce HIV transmission. Subsequently, he founded a charity to tackle crack cocaine use, then joined commissioning teams across south London to reduce the health and crime impacts of primary heroin and crack cocaine use. Leo went on to join Government Office for London where he negotiated rewards with London local authority commissioners to drive improvement in health, mental health, community safety and social care; he then transferred to Home Office HQ to deliver its stronger and safer communities programmes, tackling drugs, crime and terrorism nationally. Leo left the Home Office and returned to the voluntary sector, joining Equinox Care in 2013 and becoming Director of Operations in 2014.
About his role, Leo says: “Delivering responsive, dynamic and excellent services, that are shaped by local needs and get the outcomes service users and communities want, is why I get up in the morning. It’s what being part of Equinox Care and the Social Interest Group is about. Growing and developing new services, despite the challenge of one of the most difficult economic environments for decades, is the cherry on the cake.”
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