Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Rejected
Establish national social prescribing strategy to improve practitioner confidence and youth engagement.
Recommendation
We recommend DHSC work with NHS England and existing networks and providers to develop a national strategy for social prescribing. This should aim to improve understanding amongst frontline clinical practitioners of the benefits of social prescribing and to improve their confidence in offering social and community-based solutions to unmet social needs, and to increase use of social prescriptions for young people across all referral routes, including hospitals, schools and other educational and community settings. It should include resources, guidance and case studies, and should focus in particular on groups that are currently underserved, where the greatest long-term preventative impacts may be accrued. (Paragraph 48) Building healthy places for the future
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation for a new national social prescribing strategy, stating that national ambitions are already set in the NHS Long Term Plan, significant progress has been made, and existing guidance provides strategic direction for its integration into care pathways.
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 recognise 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.