<\/p>
Social prescribing is a way for primary care staff and other agencies to refer patients to a link worker. These are highly trained\u00a0and\u00a0have time to explore the person\u2019s health and wellbeing needs in a more holistic way.<\/p>
They\u00a0can connect them to community groups and services for support.\u00a0In particular, those with mental health problems, complex needs, multiple long-term conditions, or who are socially isolated,\u00a0might\u00a0benefit.<\/p>
The link workers explore what really matters to the individual, and work in collaboration with local partners. Examples of social prescribing options include volunteering groups, financial advice services, group learning, arts activities\u00a0and a range of sports. Green social prescribing entails linking people to more nature-based interventions such as local walking groups, gardening communities, and food-growing projects.<\/p>
Studies have previously pointed to\u00a0improvements in quality of life and emotional, mental and general wellbeing,\u00a0alongside\u00a0reduced\u00a0levels of depression and anxiety from\u00a0social prescribing. However, a review of eight studies in October 2022<\/a> suggested there was no consistent evidence that social prescribing improves social support, physical function, or reduces use of primary health services, and only limited evidence that it improves subjective assessment of personal health or quality of care received.<\/p> However, the authors\u00a0do\u00a0acknowledge that social prescribing is designed to be different depending on the needs of the person and the resources in the\u00a0local area, so determining if it works or doesn\u2019t\u00a0work on a larger scale is difficult.<\/p> Overall, social prescribing is thought to be\u00a0a more holistic way to address health issues beyond purely medical interventions, and patients have reportedly found it helpful for their mental and emotional wellbeing.<\/p> Read more:<\/strong><\/p> Asked by: Charlotte Lee,\u00a0via email\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don\u2019t forget to include your name and location)<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n By Dr Nish Manek Published: Sunday, 06 August 2023 at 09:00 AM Social prescribing is a way for primary care staff and other agencies to refer patients to a link worker. These are highly trained\u00a0and\u00a0have time to explore the person\u2019s health and wellbeing needs in a more holistic way. They\u00a0can connect them to community groups […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31547,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/08\/why-social-prescribing-is-the-new-frontier-in-mental-health-care.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/08\/why-social-prescribing-is-the-new-frontier-in-mental-health-care-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/08\/why-social-prescribing-is-the-new-frontier-in-mental-health-care-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/08\/why-social-prescribing-is-the-new-frontier-in-mental-health-care-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/08\/why-social-prescribing-is-the-new-frontier-in-mental-health-care-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/08\/why-social-prescribing-is-the-new-frontier-in-mental-health-care.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/08\/why-social-prescribing-is-the-new-frontier-in-mental-health-care.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Dr Nish Manek Published: Sunday, 06 August 2023 at 09:00 AM Social prescribing is a way for primary care staff and other agencies to refer patients to a link worker. These are highly trained\u00a0and\u00a0have time to explore the person\u2019s health and wellbeing needs in a more holistic way. They\u00a0can connect them to community groups…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/31546"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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