Social prescribing

Social prescribing

NHS England describes social prescribing as ‘an approach that connects people to activities, groups, and services in their community to meet the practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing’ (NHS England, 2023i). Social prescribers (often known as a ‘social prescribing link workers’) work collaboratively with individuals, providing information and signposting to relevant groups and services (NHS England, 2023i). For example, they may refer an individual who is isolated to a local walking group, to help them feel more connected to their local community.

Figure 78: Model of social prescribing. Image source: NHS England

  • The NHS Long Term Plan commits to embedding social prescribing across the NHS, so that there is a service in every primary care network (PCN) (NHS England, 2023i).
  • There are a range of social prescribers working across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, although these roles may have different job titles (NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, 2023).
  • A national review of primary care-based social prescribers found that the current evidence base for social prescribing is small and inconclusive (Robinson & Jackson, 2022):
    • More research is needed to explore the impact of a range of different social prescribing models, and facilitators of effective interventions.
    • Most studies evaluating social prescribing interventions are low quality and few show clinical or statistical significance.

Additional resources

References

Full list of references is included at the end of this chapter.