Social Prescribing aims to address the social factors affecting health and wellbeing by connecting local residents to non-medical support.
What is Social Prescribing, what do they do?
Social Prescribing is a Tower Hamlets service that aims to address the social factors affecting health and wellbeing by connecting local residents to the non-medical support within the borough.
People often visit their GP practice for reasons other than medical issues, as they might not know where to access support for wider social issues such as a financial problem or the need to build social connections. Such issues can have a significant impact on people's health and wellbeing.
What can Social Prescribers assist local residents with?
- Exercise and Healthy Eating
- Financial problems
- Housing problems
- Employment support
- Education
- Mental wellbeing
- Social connection
When a referral is made to the service, a dedicated Social Prescriber will work with the individual to understand their needs and find the appropriate local support that they require. The team strives to create a friendly environment that enables individuals to comfortably voice their concerns within a private setting.
Watch this short video to gain a better understanding.
Social Prescribing Service - Key Aims
Prevention
By addressing the social factors affecting health and wellbeing, the services hopes to prevent the development of associated complications when such factors are left unaddressed.
Self-Care
Empowering residents to play and active role in their health and wellbeing, by developing a greater understanding of the local social support available, adn by building resident's confidence in accessing such support.
Personalisation and Collaborative Working
Improving the local offer as it relates to a person-centred view of health and wellbeing. This is done by enabling residents to work co-operatively with health care providers to plan suitable interventions.
Evaluation
The full evaluation and executive summary (download both from Related Resources section on the right) looks at the first eight months of the roll-out, from 1 December 2016 to 31 July 2017. A range of quantitative and qualitative data sources were used to describe the service during the evaluation period and to assess how well the service met its evaluation objectives, recommending service developments in the short term and an ideal model to work towards in the longer term.
What have the Tower Hamlets Social Prescribing Team achieved so far?
- In the financial year of 2020/21 they saw over 8000 referrals into the service.
- Notable areas of support identified have been financial, housing, mental health, exercise and healthy eating.
- They have supported over 350 of the most vulnerable residents identified by the Council during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
