Estimates show that one in three people contact their GP with concerns that can’t be addressed clinically.

But what is the solution? Well, social prescribing could be just that. Unique to the UK, patients are able to gain rapid access to practical high-quality support through social prescribing, a key component of Universal Personalised Care. This all-around personal care approach has been around for some years now, helping patients around the nation.

So, what is social prescribing? What are examples of it? What does the future look like for social prescribing?

We’re here to answer those questions and more in this article. Let’s take a look.

What Is Social Prescribing?

Sometimes known as community referral, social prescribing enables GPs, health care professionals and nurses to refer patients to various local, non-clinical services to support them and their health. Instead of offering only medicalised solutions, individuals are referred to services in their community.

With so many concerns not being addressed clinically, the goal is to address people’s needs in a holistic way that allows individuals to have control over their own health and wellbeing.

What Are Examples Of Social Prescribing?

There are a variety of activities that voluntary and community sector organisations run for social prescribing. These activities help to make a difference in many peoples lives across the UK. Some examples include:

Arts activities
Gardening
Sports
Volunteering
Healthy eating advice
Group learning

Here are some real-life examples, shared by Qa Research:

Going Local in West Sussex	Hosted by Adur and Worthing Councils, Going Local is a project that aims to make people feel more active and better connected. Running out of six GPs surgeries, over 1,000 individuals have been referred by their GPs.
GP prescribed parkruns	GP surgeries across the UK have been encouraged to engage and partner with local running events, creating a free and fun way to help patients move about, creating lifestyle changes to improve long-term health and wellbeing.
£1m investment in Cornwall	Funded by the Department of Health and Cornwall Council, GPs are able to prescribe activities that focus on helping individuals with the necessary support to address difficulties in their daily life.

Does Social Prescribing Work?

More and more evidence is showing that by using social prescribing in local areas, pressure on the NHS is reduced as more people are directed to better-suited services and groups.

There are suggestions from a summary published by the University of Westminster that when social prescribing is used to support an individual, A&E attendances are reduced by 24% and GP consultations are reduced by an average of 28%.

Further evidence based on a social prescribing project in Bristol showed that there were improvements in anxiety levels as well as feelings about their quality of life.

Another study of a scheme in Rotherham displayed that 8 in 10 people that were referred to the scheme, later followed up 3 to 4 months after showed reductions in the use of NHS accident and emergency attendances.

Furthermore, analysis of the scheme also suggested that due to reduced NHS use. in a timescale of over 18–24 months, social prescribing projects could pay for themselves. Kingsfund has a fantastic article highlighting different sources of evidence.

Ways Social Prescribing Can Improve Mental Health

Mental health is a public health issue in the UK. With 23% of NHS activity taken up by mental illness and 1 in 4 people experiencing mental health problems in the UK, GPs are becoming overwhelmed. Continuous budget cuts and increasing waiting times mean patients are left without the support they deserve. Is social prescribing the solution?

Individuals will be connected to various sources of support for issues linked to their mental health. The support will contribute to better psychological and social wellbeing. These person-centred methods help to address wider determinants of health.

When compared to clinical prescriptions, social prescribing offers a low complexity and low-cost alternative, helping to identify mental health issues. These will be signposted and reported to the appropriate service that meets the personal needs of the individual.

Who Can Social Prescribing Provide Help For?

Social prescribing is a method for local agencies to refer people to a link worker. Individuals that could benefit the most from social prescribing schemes are those with complex needs, socially isolated or have mild or long-term mental health problems.

Some examples of individuals that could be provided with social and practical support include:

Those with enduring mental health problems.
Children that have autism, learning difficulties or ADHD.
People suffering from social isolation, mild to moderate depression or anxiety.
Vulnerable people who are at risk, such as the elderly, low-income single parents, individuals with chronic physical illness and recently bereaved people.

How Can I Take Action With Social Prescribing?

Social prescribing can have a huge impact on peoples lives, providing people with more choice and increased control over their lives. When people engage in community groups, there is an improved sense of belonging. So, here is how you can take action if you are a team leader, manager, front-line health professional or senior/strategic leader.

Team Leaders And Managers	Front-Line Health Professionals	Senior And Strategic Leaders
Think about how you can adopt community-centred approaches with your team to create a bond with local services and groups.	Think about how individuals emotional and social needs could be impacting their health and wellbeing, such as social networks and relationships.	To ensure proper social prescribing services are available, utilise the checklist for local partners and commissioners in Annex C of the NHS England social prescribing and community-based support summary guide.
Foster relationships between link workers, service providers and health and care professionals.	Research your local link workers and find out if they have referral criteria.	Try to promote social prescribing within commissioned health and care services.
Ensure all staff acknowledge the benefits of measuring and demonstrating how valuable their social prescribing work is.	When communicating with patients, have a person-centred approach to understand whether or not the individual has non-clinical needs that can be supported by social prescribing.	Ensure employees know the opportunities that are available to support improvements in health and wellbeing by linking making every contact count and social prescribing.
Create a culture for your team that encourages social prescribing Through ‘What matters to you?’ conversations.	For health and care professionals providing a socially prescribed service, ensure link workers and local care professionals understand the service, as well as the referral criteria.	To equip your workforce with the tools to deliver quality social prescribing advice and interventions, take a view of the training and educational needs.
For the teams you manage, make sure they are aware there are social prescribing services available in the local area.	Read PHE’s blogs and gain the skill of non-judgemental conversations that can be tailored to individual patients.	Add social prescribing to health and wellbeing boards’ Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).

What Are The Core Principles For Healthcare Professionals?

To ensure guidelines are kept to, as well and giving the best service possible, there are core principles that must be adhered to for all healthcare professionals. For social prescribing, the core principles are:

Promoting health and wellbeing as well as using non-clinical methods to reduce health inequalities in a community setting.

Building upon local community assets and delivering the service or activity.
A holistic approach that has a key focus on the individual’s needs.
Commitment to address barriers to engagement, enabling individuals to have an active role in their care.
Focuses on increasing the amount of control individuals have over their health, wellbeing and lives.

How To Understand Local Needs

To gain a solid understanding of local needs can be collected by:

Listening to patients and carers.
Speaking to communities.
Conducting local research to gain insight.

Some local needs may include; neighbourhood belonging, unemployment, social isolation as well as people’s emotional wellbeing and resilience. For a good source of information, reach out to the local social enterprise organisations, community schemes and voluntary projects.

Local health and care professionals can listen and learn about individuals in their area, routinely collecting data. You can find this data on PHE’s health profiles.

How To Measure The Impact Of Social Prescribing

To measure the impact of social prescribing, there has been a common outcomes framework created, highlighting how social prescribing impacts the individual, the community group and healthcare system.

You can find this framework in the social prescribing and community-based support summary guide in Annex D. For more information, you can head over to the NHS England website and find the summary guide to social prescribing.

Where Can I Find More Information About Social Prescribing In My Area?

For case studies and good practice examples, go to the NHS England online learning platform and find the available information there. To join the platform, contact england.socialprescribing@nhs.net.

On the NHS England social prescribing online learning platform, there are plenty of key resources. If you are looking for more case studies, check out the following documents below: