Social Prescribing Day (18 March), is a national event aimed at maintaining the health of local communities. With the recent struggles and the significant strain placed on the NHS by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's Social Prescribing Day celebrates the thousands of projects set up to maintain the health of our communities during the COVID19 pandemic.
In Tower Hamlets, our Social Prescribing service has been successfully delivering support to improve people's health and wellbeing. In the last 12 months, our Social Prescribing team has exceeded its annual target by a 16% increase with 4,100 referrals and has supported 4,783 referrals for more than 300 services in the borough. Our team of Network-based Social Prescribers is responsible for providing non-clinical support by linking patients to community and voluntary services across the borough and adopting a holistic approach to supporting patients to improve their physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Join us in celebrating Social Prescribing Day using the hashtag #SocialPrescribingDay and @THGPCareGroup on Twitter and Facebook.
The GP Care Group aims to ensure that everyone in the local community has access to healthcare, which is why our Social Prescribing service is accessible to all, including those Tower Hamlets residents whose first language is not English. Last year the service worked closely with our Advocacy & Interpreting Service, supporting 32.4% Bengali/Sylheti, 1.9% Somali, 1% Arabic, and 16% of residents from 39 other languages.
Everyone in the borough can access the service for social and emotional psychological support, help to manage existing conditions, health and wellbeing support, and expert advice for reducing avoidable primary and secondary care episodes.
Hear what our Service Users think about the service:
"The Social Prescribing service was very supportive and really helped me to build my confidence and to improve my mental health. I was provided ongoing support from the SP service and it significantly increased my self-esteem to find employment."
"I feel safe talking to you about my sexuality because you don't judge, I feel better once I have spoken to you, I would like to give your details to my friend who is also gay. I feel he will also benefit from seeing you because you have been very helpful."
"SB was supported with an online crisis grant application and secured a grant of £1,200."
To Find out more about our Social Prescribing service click here.
