Social prescribing is a service that enables staff in primary care to support their patient’s wellbeing through non-medical “prescriptions”. As link workers they will spend time with each patient, to focus on listening to them, understanding what’s important to them at the moment and explore together what could help support them with the issues they are facing.
Examples of reasons for referral are:
- Mental health issues.
- Managing long term conditions.
- Weight management.
- Social needs, and more.
Link workers adopt a holistic approach and most often the conversation does not remain on one issue. I think it’s powerful for patients to be able to voice their concerns and hear them said out loud, it enables thought processes and can help boost the confidence needed to be able to tackle things one step at a time.
This services is provided via our Primary Care Network through Enable.