Social Prescribing: Providing Support Where It's Needed

Article | Dr Marie Anne Essam, Clinical Lead and Ambassador for Social Prescribing

Society and its public services are changing, and I want to focus on some of the positives I’ve seen working well in primary care and local clinical leadership during the pandemic.

I believe that many things are in the process of changing for good, and while I do not for one second deny the phenomenal hard work, suffering and grief throughout all of our organisations and communities, looking at some of the good news will help us heal and give us a vision for the future.

Changing Landscape of Health

Social prescribing has flourished as a means by which people are receiving the right kind of help, finding hope for the future and building strength to achieve new possibilities. Flexing themselves into increased contact, virtually or by telephone, link workers have reached out to individuals and families whose social health challenges had been heightened as a direct or indirect result of COVID-19.

Primary care networks (PCNs) have expressed their appreciation of the swift assistance that their social prescribing link workers have given to reach out to people on the shielding lists. They have become key players in the development and operationalisation of the local volunteer tsunami, ensuring resources have been streamlined efficiently for those who need them.

The previous silo thinking and behaviour that separated different health, social care and community organisations has been replaced by strong cross-sector partnership working.

Help has been delivered together. The inter-organisational empathy and support has been tangible. Shared learning and the courage to try doing things differently are like never before. We now have an opportunity to engage in population health initiatives together, all across the nation, ensuring that the questions we ask ourselves and the outcomes we strive for are truly relevant to address inequalities in health and opportunities. The intelligence about our communities gained via social prescribing is a compass and a catalyst for this work.

Amigurumi Cactus

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Unsung Heroes

We brought groups of unpaid carers together to learn about their challenges during lockdown. Listening ears from health, social care and voluntary groups were present at the three virtual meetings, which focused specifically on adult carers of adults, adult carers of children with special needs, and young carers who either were caring for a parent or had a sibling with additional needs.

We came to understand more deeply the incredible strengths and resilience of carers, what they might value in a carer’s health check, and where their contingency plans had not held water in the context of a pandemic. It was salutary to discover that, while we had been beavering away in our surgeries, some of our unsung heroes were having a particularly tough time.

But we listened, we learned, and the lessons are being shared across the system to improve the care we give carers. We are using resources to set up a swiftly responsive system to allow carers respite breaks at short notice, so that any professionals who find a carer in a bit of a crisis can really offer relief.

Promise of Hope

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This story is poignant, as on 4 March 2021, Public Health England formally recognised being a carer as a social health determinant. It’s official. Notice your carers! Their health is worse because they care for another.

In January this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released guidance for supporting adult carers. This is the perfect time for all of us, whatever sort of agency we work in, to establish welcoming and robust ways of identifying carers and ensuring they have early support.

Hidden Heroes

Another creative collaboration in our area is around care for veterans. While we have long had a representative from The British Royal Legion on our social prescribing stakeholder groups, virtual conferencing has enabled conversations between many different groups to help us build a local strategy to reach out to our hidden heroes.

Did you know there are about as many veterans as there are people with diabetes? We need to start by asking people if they or anyone close to them has served in the military.

Tea Cosy

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The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is championing veteran-friendly GP practices, and in our area we are joining the dots between NHS Operation Courage, local veterans’ charities (there are 20,000 in total!) and our social prescribing organisation.

The enthusiasm for working together and creating a meaningful and effective network of care for veterans, their families, their carers and even their ex-partners is massive. We believe the social prescribing method, using link workers to personally link veterans to the help available, will accelerate access to support relating to mental health, relationships, housing, employment, domestic violence and substance abuse. Tragically, the trauma our veterans experience can have longterm negative consequences, and it can take too long for them to be offered specialist help.

Captain Tom

It seems appropriate, given the ‘hero’ theme emerging, to tell you a little of what I know about the money raised by the wonderful veteran on his Zimmer frame who we all came to love, Captain Tom. The funds, in part, were handed to the regional Thriving Communities Programmes, part of the National Academy of Social Prescribing.

Some of our unsung heroes were having a particularly tough time. But we listened, we learned, and the lessons are being shared across the system to improve the we give carers.

Organisations were encouraged to apply for funds and describe what they might do to rebuild communities where veterans had become isolated from one another during lockdown. One local group, which delivers affordable art, craft and needlework sessions to improve mental wellbeing and friendships, had the brilliant idea of developing ‘creative bubbles’, run virtually, in a manner which not only entertained and passed on skills but also fostered kindness and joy among the participants.

Captain Tom’s money reduced the cost of the sessions by half, making them accessible to many. I’ve seen some of the awesome artwork resulting from this. This is such a tribute to the fact that even when we are apparently restricted in terms of travel and physical contact, our hearts and hands can still bring about beauty and love.

Art Journalling

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Thanks for reading!

Dr Marie Anne Essam

Clinical Lead and Ambassador for Social Prescribing

Dr Marie Anne Essam is a GP in Hertfordshire and works widely to develop and support social prescribing with regional, national and international development of the link worker role.

Contact her on info@equiptoempower.co.uk and be sure to follow her on Twitter @marieannedoc