Social prescribing models
How does Social Prescribing fit with “The New Personalised care Model?
Social Prescribing features prominently in the “New Personalised Care Model”. Demographics across England vary enormously which has led to the many different models of social prescribing both established and evolving.
NHS England's model for personalised care
Watch the short animation on the NHS Comprehensive Personalised Care Model
National model for social prescribing
For more information see - Social prescribing and community-based support: Summary guide (NHS England, 2019)
Examples of Social Prescribing Models
There are many models of SP emerging across the country and more will be evolve over the next few years. This is because there is no “set” model for SP as patient population needs will be varied across the UK. Schemes should be designed to be responsive to the local needs of the community and use local resources.
General Practice Nursing Forum
Further work is required to develop the evidence base on the impact of social prescribing. However, existing evidence from individual schemes suggests that social prescribing may improve outcomes for people and reduce pressure on the NHS. For example, research found an average of 28% fewer GP consultations and 24% fewer attendances at A&E in instances where the social prescribing connector service was working well (Polley et al, 2017).
There is emerging evidence that social prescribing can lead to a range of positive health and wellbeing outcomes for people, although it is acknowledged that there is a need for more robust and systematic evidence to review its effectiveness. Measuring wellbeing is a difficult concept, especially through a medical lens. Those implementing or leading Social Prescribing are being encouraged to evaluate and monitor care and outcomes. The Making Sense of Social Prescribing document by the University of Westminster provides information on how to evaluate a scheme and a useful checklist. In the NHS England document, Social Prescribing a Community Based Support you will find a common outcomes framework in Annex D which enables schemes across the country to capture core data in order to create a consistent evidence base.
A briefing from the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services, Evaluating Social Prescribing, has reviewed the research methods and approaches used to evaluate UK-based social prescribing interventions in recent years. It will inform health care and social services professionals, as well as organisations delivering social prescribing interventions and those conducting evaluations of them. It aims to give an overview of how social prescribing has been evaluated, and what can be learned from this.
Further resources
- BMJ. Social prescribing
- British Journal of General Practice. Delivering a primary care-based social prescribing initiative
- CCG Planning
- Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. A connected society. A strategy for tackling loneliness – laying the foundations for change
- e-Learning for Healthcare. All our health
- Iriss. Evaluating social prescribing. This briefing provides a review of the research methods and approaches used to evaluate UK-based social prescribing interventions in recent years.
- Kings Fund. Social prescribing
- NHS England. NHS Long Term Plan
- NHS England. Social prescribing
- NHS England. Social Prescribing and Community based support a Summary Guide
- Models of Care Portals
- Moving Medicine. This resource will help healthcare professionals integrate physical activity conversations into routine clinical care.
- RCN Congress live stream
- RCGP Personalised care
- RCGP Social Prescribing
- Social Prescribing Network
- Social Prescribing Network regional networks
- The General Practice Podcast
- University of Westminster. A review of the evidence assessing impact of social prescribing on healthcare demand and cost implications
- Work Foundation. Social prescribing A pathway to work.
Page last updated - 24/01/2023