Social Prescribing – the holistic approach to your health and wellbeing
New Social Prescribing service helps Wandsworth residents improve their health and wellbeing
Social Prescribing Wandsworth is an exciting new service delivered by Enable Leisure and Culture (Enable) in partnership with Wandsworth Clinical Commissioning Group, Wandsworth GP Practices and the voluntary and community sector.
Social Prescribing supports people to take control of their own health by connecting them to support within the community. It starts with a GP referring people to their Link Workers who meet people for a one to one consultation. During consultations Link Workers give people time to focus on what matters to them and take a holistic approach to their health and wellbeing. This could include supporting people with things like managing stress, loneliness, finding social groups, learning new skills, physical activity or getting information on employment, benefits, housing and legal advice.
Link Workers are based within GP practices but support people in non-medical ways. They are trained to identify local activities or services that can provide people with practical support and make a real impact to their health and wellbeing. Link Workers also provide encouragement and motivation to help people access the wide range of services that are available within Wandsworth’s voluntary and community sector.
Social Prescribing is a new initiative introduced by the NHS England as part of their long-term plan. Emerging evidence shows that it can lead to a range of positive health and wellbeing outcomes, such as improved quality of life and emotional wellbeing. In addition, research shows that social prescribing can reduce the amount of GP appointments and hospital admissions.
The Social Prescribing Wandsworth service launched in November and has already supported over a hundred Wandsworth residents.
The Wandsworth & Merton Clinical Lead for Social Prescribing Dr Mohan Sekeram said “We are delighted we can now offer thousands more patients this new service which can help with all their needs. While empowering patients this will build resilience in our community to allow patients take control of the health. Our work in Merton, co-ordinated by Merton CCG, resulted in patient wellbeing improving by 77% and reduced GP appointments by a third and halved Accident and Emergency attendances. This exciting news has real positive opportunities for the future health of Wandsworth residents.”
If would like more information about Social Prescribing please contact us on 02039590031 or email waccg.socialprescribing@nhs.net