Guidance

Social prescribing schemes to receive funding from the Health and Wellbeing Fund: 2018

Published 2 August 2018

The social prescribing schemes set to receive funding are as follows.

1. Age UK Sunderland

Covering: the Sunderland Local Authority Area

The proposed scheme, working alongside Sunderland City Council, will build on the success of Age UK Sunderland’s Living Well Link (LWL) service that was introduced in 2015.

The service will offer a single point of contact and extend access to information, early interventions and flexible low-level community-based support to adults who do not require intensive or specialised support interventions from statutory services.

2. Brighton and Hove Impetus

Covering: Brighton and Hove

This expanding scheme is strongly focused on providing support for those affected by health inequalities with a particular focus on the following navigation types:

• general community navigation for those with complex needs
• transgender community navigation
• black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and language needs community navigation
• gypsies and travellers community navigation.

3. Charlton Athletic Community Trust

Covering: Greenwich, London

The scheme aims to expand an existing pilot scheme based in Greenwich from 7 GP surgeries into a further 10 localities.

The scheme mostly focuses on adults who have visited their GP on 12 or more occasions in the previous year and on helping individuals to better manage their health.

4. Citizens Advice North Oxfordshire and South Northamptonshire

Covering: Cherwell and West Oxfordshire District Councils

This scheme has a focus on supporting those who are lonely or socially isolated, which may include people with long-term conditions, carers, or those with a disability.

This model will usually provide patients with an initial one-hour assessment then a further 2 hours of support over a number of months.

5. Citizens Advice Waltham Forest

Covering: Waltham Forest, London

This scheme will build on a year-long pilot scheme that focused mostly on the activities available in the voluntary sector for vulnerable patients and residents in greatest need.

It will aim to deal with some of the things that may cause health inequalities.

6. Citizen’s Advice Bureau Wirral

Covering: Wirral

This jointly run new scheme from Citizens Advice and Age UK aims to support the local population of the Wirral.

Social prescribing ‘link workers’ will work across 3 GP localities and undertake a targeted programme to support those with mild to moderate mental health needs.

7. Dudley Council for Voluntary Service

Covering: Dudley

The proposed expansion to the current scheme will be ‘A&E high intensity social prescribing’ to address the lack of extra support for those who are very dependent on emergency services.

It will improve the current model by offering the ‘voluntary sector collaborative model’ to the some of the most vulnerable in society.

8. Health Exchange

Covering: Birmingham

This new social prescribing scheme will cover a large number of GP practices across Birmingham, providing around 400,000 residents access to a social prescribing system.

The model will include access to ‘community link workers’ as well as a ‘digital hub’ and wellbeing plan to help address health and wellbeing issues in the community.

9. Imago Community

Covering: Dartford and Gravesham

This proposed model will expand an existing scheme to align with the new ‘sustainability and transformation partnership model’ for Local Care across the Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley Clinical Commissioning group area.

The current scheme covers both the Integrated Discharge Team at Darent Valley Hospital and a local GP practice. The expansion will reach 36 GP practices and identify patients with multiple conditions and complex care needs and provide additional support.

10. Involve Kent

Covering: west Kent

This new social prescribing scheme will target 5 GP surgeries within the west Kent clinical commissioning group (CCG) area.

The scheme aims to provide a strong evidence base for the effectiveness of social prescribing in improving health outcomes and reducing demand on NHS services.

Each practice will have a dedicated ‘involve co-ordinator’ (IC). The IC is a skilled professional who will build a team of local volunteers around them to provide holistic support, advice and information to help patients access activities to improve their health and wellbeing.

11. Mental Health Concern

Covering: Newcastle and east Gateshead

The model aims to support the development of social prescribing activity by providing funding for:

• physical activity
• access to the green spaces
• social inclusion
• access and transport
• events publicity

The main focus will be on long-term conditions, persistent physical symptoms and tackling low mood and depression.

12. Nova Wakefield District Ltd

Covering Wakefield clinical commissioning group (CCG) and West Yorkshire STP

Nova will use its experience of running an existing scheme to meet the needs of young adults living with mental health or learning difficulties who require a supported, guided and mentored approach to living life well.

The proposed expansion will provide a further 5 ‘link workers’ to this group.

13. People Potential Possibilities (P3)

Covering: Milton Keynes

This scheme aims to build on an existing small service for high-intensity users of NHS and emergency health medical services, as well as police custody suites.

The new part of the scheme aims to reduce demand from GPs by working with people of medium to lower needs.

People who may benefit include those who have complex or entrenched needs requiring multiple services and solutions to address underlying issues such as:

• social isolation
• anxiety
• substance misuse
• financial and debt issues.

Solutions include linking people to local groups, activities and new hobbies. Individuals will have support tailored to their needs ranging from very regular, intensive, support to single-contact interventions.

14. Redbridge Council for Voluntary Service

Covering: Redbridge clinical commissioning group (CCG), London

This scheme is seeking to expand the existing Redbridge scheme covering 9 GP surgeries, to cover all 44 in the borough.

The scheme works with people from a wide range of backgrounds and encourages people to join from all communities regardless of language or culture.

It will focus of adults with any of the following conditions: low-level mental health concerns, social isolation and type 2 diabetes.

15. South Liverpool Citizen’s Advice Bureau

Covering: Liverpool

This expansion of an existing programme will provide help for people with a combination of long-term conditions, mental health problems and social hardships.

The changes to the scheme will support more people and will include a more holistic and diverse health and wellbeing offer than is currently on offer.

It will include the expansion of the current ‘one-stop connector gateway’, ‘navigation workers’ and supported access to wellbeing activities as well as pathways to volunteering, employment, enterprise, education and learning.

16. South Yorkshire Housing Association

Covering: Barnsley

South Yorkshire Housing Association currently delivers a social prescribing scheme across Barnsley.

The new scheme expands into secondary care settings to provide a holistic service for people who:

• frequently go to A&E
• are at risk of admission to hospital
• who are medically fit, but experiencing discharge delays due to social issues

This secondary care model will aim to prevent hospital admission as well as accelerate hospital discharge through the use of motivational interviewing to help people take control of their wellbeing.

17. StreetGames

Covering: Sheffield, Southampton, Luton, Brighton and Hove

Each scheme will be available across an entire clinical commissioning group (CCG) or local authority area they will give extra help to the people who find it hardest to access health services, and who are most vulnerable to inequalities.

The scheme is aimed at children, young people and families to give them the same benefits from social prescribing as adults.

The particular focus of the scheme will be working with socially excluded young people aged 5 to 25 from the following protected characteristic groups:

• female
• disability
• black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds
• LGBTQ

The scheme will link users to a range of community-based services such as sport and physical activity, weight management, volunteering, anger and stress management, and counselling and peer support.

18. The YOU Trust

Covering: Portsmouth

This new scheme will support people with a wide range of social, emotional or practical needs, with a focus on improving mental health and physical wellbeing.

The focus of this scheme is to support people who are socially isolated and people who frequently use primary or secondary care healthcare provision.

The YOU Trust has experience of supporting those at risk of homelessness, hidden violence and abuse as well as those with mental ill health or learning disabilities.

The scheme will link service users to range of voluntary and community organisations, activities or groups.

19. Voluntary Support North Surrey

Covering: north Surrey

The existing scheme will spread to cover Surrey Health clinical commissioning group (CCG) and will be aimed at those with chronic conditions.

The expansion will include those who may have barriers to living an active life but who are not yet at a crisis stage.

The project will be open to all adults but there will be a particular focus on:

• people with long-term health conditions and disabilities
• people with mental health issues
• elderly people
• single parents
• people with English is a second language
• people who are new to the community

The scheme deals with health inequalities in the area by targeting the most vulnerable residents.

20. Volunteer Cornwall

Covering: Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

This scheme will operate across the area covered by ‘sustainability transformation plan’ for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. It will cover one local authority, one clinical commissioning group (CCG), 62 GP practices, one community trust and one hospital trust.

The scheme will focus on the following:

• benefits and employment
• housing
• social isolation
• arts and culture
• natural environment
• lifestyles

In Cornwall it is estimated that one in 3 people do voluntary work and the scheme will ensure volunteers can contribute to social prescribing by supporting those on the scheme to access activities and develop new activities.

21. Witton Lodge Community Association

Covering: north Birmingham

Witton Lodge Community Association has been delivering wellbeing activities since 2011 as part of its mission to provide community led and based services.

The scheme will spread to reach the constituency of Erdington which has some of the highest levels of deprivation.

The social prescription part of the service may include creative activities, talking therapies, physical therapies or ‘out and about’, which includes walking or gardening groups.

22. Wolseley Community and Economic Trust

Covering: Plymouth

The Wolseley Trust has successfully provided a complex ‘social prescribing and community referral’ programme for 5 years and plans to replicate the model across further neighbourhoods in Plymouth.

The social prescribing service will cover areas of the highest deprivation. This expansion will seek to reduce health inequalities in these areas through providing tailored support.

23. Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council

Covering: Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council is looking to expand an existing pilot scheme.

Wolverhampton is a city facing high levels of deprivation with high levels of poverty and poor health outcomes when compared to national figures.

The expansion will use the current model and processes but a new approach will be used to make sure there are referrals from the most deprived areas, while also focusing on early intervention to improve outcomes.