Our Social Prescribing Service joined the National Social Prescribing Day celebrations hosted by the Health Tree at the Brady Centre earlier this month.
Attendees learned about successful social prescribing projects in Tower Hamlets, met The Health Tree project team and partners, and found out what role arts play in improving health and wellbeing. GP Care Group Social Prescribers delivered a fantastic role-play of the referral/ consultation process. First presenting an interaction between a clinician and a patient being referred, and then of a conversation between a Social Prescriber and the patient, to get a better insight of social prescribing interventions.
Social Prescribing is a Tower Hamlets service that aims to address the social factors affecting health and wellbeing by connecting local residents to non-medical support available within the borough.
People often visit their GP practice/ healthcare services for reasons other than medical issues, as they might not know where to access support for wider social issues such as a financial problem or the need to build social connections. Such concerns can have a significant impact on people’s health and wellbeing.
Examples of issues Social Prescribers assist residents with:
The Social Prescribing Service is open to all residents living in and registered with a GP practice in Tower Hamlets. This includes referrals made for children and young people, where we work with parents or primary carers (considering confidentiality & child safeguarding concerns) offering access to services that support the individual and the family unit.
The pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental wellbeing of residents, and its effects on people living with long-term conditions are well known, resulting in a long backlog of appointments. The various lockdowns have restricted social interactions and physical activity, which may have had compounding effects on residents' health and wellbeing or led directly to new issues.
We encourage anyone who has been impacted by mental wellbeing concerns and/or long-term conditions to refer themselves to the social prescribing service if required.
You can use our Self-Referral form to contact a Social Prescriber.
