Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Rejected
Paragraph: 47
GPs lack confidence in social prescribing, leading to underutilisation for underserved groups.
Conclusion
Frontline health and social care staff do not only deal with immediate medical needs. People also present to the health service with issues that relate to unmet social needs, which can in turn, over time, develop into medical needs. Increased use of social prescribing can both relieve pressure on clinical pathways and protect good health through enhancing people’s connections with, and ability to participate in activities in their local communities—particularly for people who often lack resources to access these activities independently. There is potential for health services to make much greater use of this approach amongst groups that are currently underserved by social prescribing, such as young people. Many GPs, however, do not feel as confident working with social prescription pathways as they do with the clinical Prevention in health and social care: healthy places 27 pathways that their training focuses on. Building confidence amongst frontline providers in recommending social provision will be key to both protecting and improving individuals’ health, and promoting more cohesive, health-enhancing communities.
Government Response Summary
The government declines the recommendation, stating that national ambitions for the delivery of social prescribing have been set out in the NHS Long Term Plan and that social prescribing has grown significantly across England since 2019, exceeding NHS Long Term Plan commitments.
Paragraph Reference:
47
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
Decline National ambitions for the delivery of social prescribing have been set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. Thiscommitted to rolling out social prescribing across primary care networks (PCNs) in England so that over 900,000 people were referred to social prescribing by 2023/24 with 1,000 link workers in place by 2020/21. This supported a wider effort to roll out personalised care commitments. Social prescribing has grown significantly across England since 2019. There are now approximately 3,600 social prescribing link workers and have been over 2.5 million referrals to social prescribing in general practice since 2019, exceeding NHS Long Term Plan commitments. Published Guidance on supporting high frequency users and our Delivery plan for improving access to primary care already sets out strategic direction for the integration of social prescribing within existing care pathways. Social prescribing enables GPs, PCN staff and all local agencies to refer people to link workers who can work with them to access, through personalised care and support planning, different ways of meeting their needs. Social prescribing within PCNs is a universal offer but works particularly well for people who need support with their mental health, are lonely or isolated and/ or have complex social needs which affect their wellbeing. Link workers connect people to community groups, activities (such as health & wellbeing, sport and exercise and the natural environment) and agencies for practical, emotional and social support. We recognize the potential benefits of social prescribing to different population groups. As set out in the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service (DES) Guidance 2023/24, PCNs must provide access to a social prescribing service to all patients who could benefit, and deliver a proactive social prescribing case-finding service, typically delivered through employing social prescribing link workers either directly or through contracting arrangements with a local VCSE provider. We are now seeing social prescribing developing across other parts of the NHS and with children and young people also. We have also piloted the delivery of social prescribing schemes exploring links between physical and mental health and the built and natural environment, including cross- government Green Social Prescribing pilots and Department for Transport (DfT) Active Travel Social Prescribing pilots. Integrated Care Systems (ICS) are also developing social prescribing in secondary and community care to support self-care and provide support to addressing the wider determinants of health. NHSE has developed further support for the national infrastructure for social prescribing, such as an Information Standard for social prescribing and a national workforce development framework.