What is social prescribing?

It is well established that 80-90% of health outcomes are linked to social determinants of health. These include health-related behaviours, socioeconomic and environmental factors.

Social prescribing aims to address social determinants of health by connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.

Social prescriptions are varied and include activities focused on health, education, skills development, sports and leisure/art activities. If utilised well, they can help to deliver several benefits to individuals and health and care systems, including:

  • giving a route for health and care systems to address social determinants of health
  • promoting self-care
  • building stronger communities
  • reducing healthcare service utilisation, including GP appointments, secondary care referrals, and Accident & Emergency attendances

Social Prescriptions Providers

The aims of this website are:

  • to create a crowd-sourced resource for Voluntary/Community Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations to upload information about their organisation and services, and
  • for primary care staff in GP practices to have one place where they can find information on the different social prescription providers in their area.

Using publicly available information from the Charity Commission, we have prepopulated the map and directory with details of charities across all 44 Integrated Care Systems in the English NHS. If your VCSE organisation provides social prescriptions but it is not listed on the site, please feel free to fill out this form and upload your information onto the map and directory.

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