The Social Prescribing Model

In 2010 the Green Dreams Project set up a new service to provide local, community-based solutions in East Lancashire to unemployment, isolation and reduced quality of life. As such, it aimed to reduce isolation and to increase returning to education and work for those patients who statutory agencies were unable to help or who were unable to coordinate their own multi-agency self-referrals. This was achieved by linking Green Dreams project managers who provided one to one support to patients, with individual GP practices. The project managers provided a ‘triad of care’ in which they:

1) provided tailored coordinated care;

2) combined health with social care needs;

3) created opportunities for patients to get involved in community activities by improving/creating/supporting community assets.

Link workers were employed by the project using bespoke job descriptions and role to fit this new service, along with bespoke monitoring, workflow, advertising, supervision, and impact assessments. Community engagement was key to every new process.

 

Over the course of 7 years the project saw thousands of patients referred by 22 local GP surgeries and lobbied for the project to be transferred on a wide scale. Eventually, this work-stream came to be known as SOCIAL PRESCRIBING.

It is now in every GP practice in the country.