Catch up on all the activity from the world’s first ever Social Prescribing UnCo!

“Wow! What a day! Our feet have just about touched the ground since returning home to Derry after our first, and certainly not our last, Social Prescribing UnCo in Manchester. The energy in the room was contagious, the speakers were inspiring and informative, and the delegates were engaged, energised and eager to network, learn and celebrate Social Prescribing. Our delegates led the agenda for UnCo and we couldn’t have asked for a better day, in a better community venue and as one of our delegates said ‘it’s nice to know we’re in this together.”

A huge thank you to our compere John Loughton, who had delegates laughing out loud due to his quick wit and ability to wake up a room through participation in an off-the-cuff dance routine. John took delegates on a journey through his life from when he was a young boy where his honest, endearing and emotional life story captured the hearts of delegates and set the scene for inspiration and established a shared vision for improving lives through social prescribing.

Andy Burnham, Mayor, Greater Manchester,  took to the stage as our morning keynote, and talked about promoting people’s health over health services,  how the third sector needs more support and how we should all champion social prescribing and lead by example for Manchester.

Read more and view all the photos and presentations on Elemental's website:

https://elementalsoftware.co/social-prescribing-unco/

Cornwall Social Prescribing Partnership celebrates first year of delivery!

Congratulations to all of the Social Prescribing Link Workers Team and Managers were celebrated at Epiphany House in Truro on Tuesday 22^nd October 2019.

Over 3,000 referrals had been received countywide and some fabulous case studies and feedback from those who have benefitted has been forthcoming.

More than 70% of those who have engaged with community support and activities have said their health & wellbeing has improved.

Some quotes from our servue users:

• “I m a lot happier, lot more relaxed and sleeping better, my health is improving and I’m not taking other peoples’ stresses on!
• “The sessions have helped more than myself. Has had a ripple effect, as advice has been passed onto my family.”
• “I feel happier and like a burden has been taken off my shoulders”

On Wednesday 22nd May 2019, a range of VCS Workshops for East Cornwall, organised by Laura Chapman, Community Maker for Volunteer Cornwall, were held at Liskeard Pubic Hall to consult on the Social Prescribing Roll-out for the area. The workshops were very well supported and feedback from across the patch was very positive and enthusiastic in being involved in the future plans for the communities.

The NHS Long Term Plan and new GP contracts (starting July 2019), will see additional Social Prescribing Link Workers employed across the country. The workshops purpose included discussions with many local providers, patient participation group members and community groups, resulting in development of working together and to link with the new Primary Care Networks and gp surgeries going forward.

People who are lonely in Cornwall will soon find it easier to access activities in their community following a new partnership between Cornwall Council and Elemental, a digital social prescribing programme.

This new software will upgrade the existing social prescribing service being led by Cornwall Council’s public health team and its partners Volunteer Cornwall, along with Active Plus, Age UK Cornwall, Chaos Café, CN4C, Eden Project and Pentreath Ltd.

There are currently 30 GP practices across Cornwall working with 12 link workers. The link workers meet with individuals to find out what sorts of support is available to them that meet their needs, such as volunteering, group learning, gardening, social activities, benefit advice and healthy lifestyle support.

Cornwall Council Public Health consultant Rachel Wigglesworth said: “We’re really proud to be introducing this digital software, especially as this week is Loneliness Awareness week. This will make everything more streamlined as, rather than each link worker working off different spreadsheets, all of the information will be stored in one place.

“It also supports GPs to refer people in to the service, as well as making it easier to understand whether people are getting value out of the service with improved monitoring abilities”.

Julie Pollard, Social Prescribing Co-ordinator, Volunteer Cornwall said “We are already seeing the benefits of using the new system. We can monitor exactly what progress someone is making, as well as their GP also being able to see the way in which they are being helped. It really helps for people to be able to see how far they have come.”

Elemental CEO, Jennifer Neff said: “We’re so excited about this new partnership with Cornwall Council and Volunteer Cornwall. Julie and her team are so passionate about reducing health inequalities in communities throughout Cornwall and we know that they are going to be making a huge impact through their new digitally enhanced services.”

Developing and supporting schemes like social prescribing supports the council to deliver better health outcomes for everyone which is part of its “Healthy Cornwall priority”, working with partners to shape Cornwall’s future health and care services.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUQGNccvJDQ

This was origanally posted on the Cornwall Council website, the full article can be found here

PHE has worked with Health Education England to launch the new Population Wellbeing Portal and associated website.

The portal offers free access to education, training and professional development resources, to help deliver improvements in public health and prevention. This includes resources from Health Education England (HEE), PHE, the Academy for Public Health for London and the South East, the Faculty of Public Health and many others.  It also links in with 'All Our Health',  PHE’s framework of evidence to guide healthcare professionals in preventing illness, protecting health and promoting wellbeing.

https://populationwellbeingportal.e-lfh.org.uk/

Please find some useful links that have been shared:
(Links will open in a new tab/window.)

NHS Social Prescribing Page:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/personalisedcare/social-prescribing/

The Kings Fund Social Prescribing Page:
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/social-prescribing?gclid=Cj0KCQjwhPfkBRD0ARIsAAcYycE1bPjy3K_n49DAKkx91Gguykw9NJ7rw1sTxFmcAibv6urdaR6MGJQaAj_8EALw_wcB

The National Association of Link Workers:
https://www.connectlink.org/

Come and celebrate #SocialPrescribing, a movement that I believe is going to make the biggest difference in health and care of the century!’ – Dr Michael Dixon, Chair of the College of Medicine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AiO6PYw2W4