Social Prescribing in Wolverhampton: Improving wellbeing and reducing loneliness
Dr Rachel Massie
With widening health and social inequalities, an ageing population and increased pressures on the NHS, there is a demand for services to help tackle these challenges. And what better way than to work collaboratively, using the combined assets of each sector to improve lives through support for health and wellbeing, social connections, financial problems and employment, to name a few. I have recently completed an evaluation of Wolverhampton’s social prescribing service, funded by Wolverhampton CCG and run by Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council, which aims to do just this.
Social prescribing is an approach designed to reduce the pressures on the NHS, specifically primary care, by enabling health professionals to refer patients to a range of local, non-clinical services, predominantly voluntary and community organisations. It also aims to empower individuals to improve their own health. Social prescribing has become a hot topic recently, gaining considerable political interest and support. But we must remember this is not a new concept, and the principle of signposting individuals to community-led activities has been delivered across England for many years, just in a less formal manner. What is important with the recent interest and support is that we use best practice to develop evidence-informed approaches to delivery and sustainability as it continues to expand and be set up in new areas.
Our evaluation of the Wolverhampton social prescribing service has highlighted its success, with significant improvements in wellbeing and reduced feelings of isolation and loneliness following contact with the service. The evaluation also reports progress in terms of service users being supported to find employment, increase confidence and access relevant support for home improvements for individuals living with long-term conditions.
The service was valued highly by service users, referrers and community organisations. Key strengths of the service include the recruitment of empathetic, friendly and approachable link workers who focus on what matters to the patient and maintain an extensive breadth of knowledge about local services; and an easy, clear referral process to encourage GP’s and health professionals to engage with and refer to the service.
The challenge that now faces all involved with the social prescribing service, as with many community-run services, is sourcing ways for the service to become sustainable both in terms of staff capacity and funding to continue to deliver the service. We must bear in mind as services expand and receive more referrals, this needs to be balanced with: the link worker’s capacity to coordinate an increased volume of referrals as more GP’s refer into the service; the ability of community organisations to receive onward referrals and offer suitable groups/activities that suit individual’s needs; the ability of the local community and local services (both statutory and voluntary) to fill gaps when these are identified; and appropriate funding that recognises all the components that are key to delivering social prescribing successfully.
It can be complex to implement social prescribing with so many organisations needing to be involved, but partnership and collaborative working across the sectors is proving to be a successful service for many local residents, particularly frequent flyers of GP practices. I believe the future is looking good for social prescribing and I’m excited to see how such programmes continue to develop!
