A new project in Selby, North Yorkshire has taken an innovative approach to social prescribing and significantly increased the support available in one community. The approach is known as 'Assertive Social Prescribing' and takes influence from the Brazilian model of community health care, where a link worker is assigned to a household to provide support and signposting for all of the household members. The project, hosted by Vale of York Health and Care Partnership and Selby Town PCN, runs in an area of high deprivation in Selby; within this area 75 households with children under five were identified and assigned a social prescriber - these are members of the public health team and are people from the area. Living Well (Public Health) were able to provide support and capacity for the project and, with three social prescribers dedicating just half a day a week each to the project, they have achieved fantastic results. The key difference in the approach is that the households weren’t referred by the GP or other services. They were identified simply because they have young children and live within an area of high deprivation, then were proactively targeted for support. Social prescribers offered each household an appointment to go through a wellbeing questionnaire and discovered a wide range of needs and challenges - many of which hadn’t been expected. They met with family members at home or an agreed place and following these meetings were able to refer people to further support from voluntary and community organisations and NHS services. People’s concerns varied from challenges around gaining diagnosis for children with neurodiversity, autism and/or learning disabilities, to lack of warm and dry spaces for children to play, and the cost of living. Social prescribers were able to reach out to people, being proactive and reactive to the everyday challenges that people in the area face. Understanding of social prescribing in the area was initially low, but having local people and some familiar faces on the team meant that trust could be built up. Referrals were made to smoking cessation groups, perinatal mental health, the community library, debt advice services and community health practitioners. Referrals were also made to the Energy Doctor – a local service which offers support to manage energy consumption in the home, and helps families to tackle debt to energy providers – as well as a slow cooker project. This pilot project has been met with enthusiastic responses from wider System Partners. A new Neurodiversity Support Group has been established, and a local Football Club has registered as a CIC to help the community to grow their own support/activities. The project is now being rolled out more widely and has received £105,000 of Health Inequalities funding following a successful bid to Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. They are looking to partner more closely with voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations to deliver this. The project is a demonstration of what can be achieved by looking at the process of social prescribing differently and targeting work in the areas where it is most needed, with a locally based and compassionate approach to the wellbeing of whole households. Hopefully we will see similar projects taking place in other communities so the evidence provided by this pilot can be built upon and residents of other areas can benefit from this new approach. For further information please email Verity Wilkinson-Cunningham: v.wilkinson-cunningham@nhs.net. |