Welcome to our February Newsletter
This month we have reports, research, requests, even a TV feature to share- all of the social prescribing variety. Welcome to our new members, we are now over 700 people, all passionate about social prescribing. We also welcome Dr Marija Kovandzic and Dr Jayne Whiteside to the research team here at the University of Westminster, both of whom are working on social prescribing projects and supporting social prescribing network activities.
We are delighted with the response to the National Social Prescribing conference in May, we have been working hard to design a programme that has something for everyone.
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Funding to support the Social Prescribing Network.
We are happy to share that Dr Marie Polley and colleagues won a competitive tender from NHS England. We are now very busy producing a toolkit for commissioning social prescribing, reviewing evidence on demand reduction, reviewing social prescribing activity across the country and we will be improving our website..we will let you know as soon as we have resources ready.
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National Conference with the Kings Fund
Social Prescribing: From rhetoric to reality.
18th May 8.45am-4.45pm
This event, run in partnership with the Kings Fund and the College of Medicine, brings together national leaders and innovative local areas to provide a platform for enabling strategic collaboration and sharing of best practice.
The agenda provides a vital insight into the work of the social prescribing movement in improving wellbeing, reducing health inequalities and making the NHS more sustainable, by reducing demand on health services.
Throughout the day we will be exploring the range of benefits of social prescribing, and how best to measure and evaluate the impact and outcomes. Pioneering local areas will showcase their approach, challenges and achievements, and provide practical resources for commissioners and practitioners to develop in their own locality.
Click here to find out more information and book a place
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Research
Validating a green exercise questionnaire:
Dr Carly Wood at the University of Westminster is validating a green exercise questionnaire. Please can you help us and take a few mins to complete this online survey assessing frequency of exposure to nature and participation in green exercise. https://westminsterpsych.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9EKo9h1dBqbUsDP
Searching for Real-World Effectiveness of Health Care Innovations: Scoping Study of Social Prescribing for Diabetes
This open access paper published by Dr Pilkington, Dr Loef and Dr Polley aimed to characterize, collate, and analyze the evidence from evaluation of social prescribing for type 2 diabetes in the United Kingdom and Ireland, comparing information available on publicly available websites with the published literature.
Click here to go to the paper.
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Reports and Media
We have a great range of interesting reports to share in this newsletter, please take a look below.
Good practice in social prescribing for mental health: the role of nature-based interventions (NECR228)
This report builds on the findings from earlier Natural England reports and explores the options for improving the commissioning of, and referral to, these services as well as scaling-up the provision of nature-based interventions.Click here to go to the report and find previous reports.
The Hidden Value of our Green Spaces
This report by the Land Trust uses a financial approach to highlight the social and economic benefits of green spaces.
Social Prescribing - A Pathway to work?
This report from the Work Foundation is an analysis of the current and potential role of social prescription in supporting work opportunities for those, who are either unable or do not have the confidence or motivation to work. Click here to go to the report
Steps towards implementing self-care - a focus on social prescribing
Healthy London Partnerships have produced a report which aims to help London commissioners to take the first steps towards implementing social prescribing for their populations. Click here to go to report
BBC Sunday politics South East 12th Feb features Social Prescribing in Crawley Community and Voluntary Service
Click here to watch this programme discussion on adult social care starts at 38 minutes. Social prescribing is featured at 48 mins in. Well done Peter and colleagues!
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Regional Events
Thank you to Tim Anfilogoff and colleagues who organised a great East of England Regional Network event early this month. We are delighted that there are now a core group of people who want to work push this regional network forwards and 150 people who are in the regional network already. Details of the day can be found here
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