MENTAL HEALT H
Social prescribing in London – a GP perspective Tom Coffey GP; Mayoral Health Advisor, London
Overall SP access in London is patchy. Although many statutory and voluntary organisations want to develop more opportunities for access to social prescribing projects, this is not happening in a systematic way. A social prescribing vision for London, which is being developed by the Greater London Authority, NHS England, Healthy London Partnership and the London Social Prescribing Network will focus on four priority areas that can make the most difference: workforce development including the role of volunteers; evaluation, outcomes development and sharing good practice; improving digital connectiveness; and the provision of specialist legal advice.
© Journal of holistic healthcare
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I joined the mayor’s office as senior health policy advisor to the mayor in 2016. I continue to work as a GP, am clinical lead for mental health and children’s services at Wandsworth CCG and the joint-clinical lead for emergency care NHS England (London). I also work in A&E in Charing Cross Hospital and am GP advisor to the Battersea Healthcare social enterprise. My remit at City Hall includes providing health policy advice to the mayor and working closely with the mayor’s statutory health adviser on matters relating to health policy. However I still find time to use my season ticket for Chelsea FC.
Why GPs need social prescribing As a GP working in Tooting, south London, many of my patients come to me about problems I cannot solve. Despite continuing advances in medical treatment, there is no pill I can prescribe for many of the reasons patients come to me – for social problems like debt, loneliness, housing issues, family troubles, unemployment or work problems – even though these predicaments are clearly affecting their physical and mental health. Patients come to my surgery with complex challenges – often they have several health and social concerns, exacerbating each other and making each day a challenge. Finding their own solutions can be very difficult. And I am not alone – it’s estimated that one in every five patients visit their GP for non-medical reasons (Toriesen, 2016). In fact, this figure should probably be much higher: the Low Commission reported that 15% of all GP visits were for social welfare advice (Low Commission, 2015), let alone the many other issues that affect the quality of people’s lives.
Volume 15 Issue 3 Autumn 2018
So how can I, as a GP, support patients with such complex and multiple non-medical needs? In my experience, social prescribing can play an important role. The first thing social prescribing does is offer a listening ear, the opportunity for a patient to tell me what’s really concerning them. It allows me to recognise it, validate it, and then vitally allows me to offer them something to help with it – a referral route to advice and support beyond (though often alongside) the medical advice that I provide. Social prescribing offers me an opportunity to provide my patients with a wider range of support. It enables me to help people to improve their quality of life and to feel better. It is a way of bringing together a patient’s health, care and social needs, and addressing the issues they identify as important to their health and wellbeing – and to their lives – through access to support and services in the community.
The varieties of social prescribing There is no single model of social prescribing, but there are many
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