Social Prescribing Roll Out

Why this is important

01
5-18%* percent of UK adults feel lonely often or always, negatively impacting on health and wellbeing (*The Office for National Statistics)
02
Nationally three quarters of GPs surveyed said they are seeing one to five people a day suffering with loneliness, linked to a wide range of damaging health impacts
03
Around 15 million people in England live with a long term condition costing up to £7 of every £10 available in the health system (*The Kings Fund)
04
60-65% of carers and users of adult social care in Barking and Dagenham would like more social contact
05
Barking and Dagenham has the highest obesity rate in London, and 32% of the population are inactive

Introduction

The HealthUnlocked eSocial Prescribing tool lets GPs easily deliver a digital social prescription to patients within their standard consultation. It directs patients to local services and voluntary sector support, high-quality, validated content and online peer support networks to help them manage a chronic health condition, as well as providing support to people who want to improve their wellbeing, such as getting active, eating healthily, losing weight, and dealing with anxiety and depression.

During Wave 1 of the Test Bed Programme it was enabled within 15 GP practices. It generated much positive feedback which has meant that our work with HealthUnlocked eSocial Prescription has continued beyond the Test Bed, as part of the Innovation Exchange Programme with UCLPartners, with the technology scaling beyond East London and product developments taking place. 

This product is now active in 38 GP practices across Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge and over 2,000 electronic social prescriptions have been created.

The importance of scale

Data shows that 90% of social prescriptions sent to patients with a chronic health or wellbeing need have been opened, followed by 84% of people clicking on resources.

The highest numbers of prescriptions created for ‘wellbeing’ needs have been generated for ‘Healthy Eating’, ‘Lose Weight’ and ‘Getting Active’, corresponding well to significant local challenges around obesity and inactivity.

Now used by more than 160 healthcare professionals, the tool is deployed within primary care, hospitals, and other STP- level deployments.

Working with Care City has allowed us to understand the local context and needs of healthcare professionals and patients. We have been able to capture new features and developments that can improve the product itself.

Who’s involved? The key stakeholders

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Our Social Prescribing collaboration with HealthUnlocked