As December’s whirlwind fades, all the overindulgence finishes, and we head into a new year, here comes the season of resolutions and aspirations for change. Like New Year resolutions, social prescribing helps to transform lives for the better and helps individuals live happier and healthier lives.
Integrating social prescribing within primary care eases the strain on healthcare and clinical professionals. Successful resolutions in self-care and mental wellbeing can help alleviate pressure on primary care services, reducing health inequalities, improving health and wellbeing outcomes, and reduce dependency on medical interventions.
This month we are making it our resolution at Access Elemental Social Prescribing to raise awareness on the best ways to implement social prescribing across primary care and demonstrate not only the benefits it has for individuals, but their families, GP practices, Primary Care Managers, Social Prescribing Link Workers, and Digital and Transformation Leads too.
Unwrapping Access Elemental’s December social connections
At Access Elemental, like most of us, December was a busy month for us. We were present at several events including the annual Digital Health and Care Fest and have also been taking proactive steps to raise awareness about social prescribing across primary care.
At the Digital Health and Care Fest it was amazing to have so many great conversations on the benefits digital health can have on an individual’s health and wellbeing and how social prescribing helps to address the wider social determinants of health including housing and education.
In December, we also wanted to help educate individuals further by addressing the impact of the NHS’ Long Term Plan on social prescribing. We wanted to explain the benefits of social prescribing being embedded in the plan, and how it has provided greater opportunities for Social Prescribing Link Workers to be a part of Multi-Disciplinary Teams across primary care to help reduce pressure on clinicians and improve community health.
Through explaining the benefits of social prescribing being embedded in the Long Term Plan it was also essential to acknowledge how future funding from the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) is currently unknown from the end of March 2024, and the best ways to secure social prescribing funding in the future. This, in turn, helps Primary Care Managers best prepare for this potential change in future funding so they can continue to make social prescribing more sustainable.
Launching the New Year with impactful insights
Following our busy December, January will be no different for us at Access Elemental Social Prescribing. This month launches our focus on social prescribing across primary care including how it works, its benefits, the challenges, and how best to overcome them.
Our work with primary care settings also works nicely with our work with the PRSB to become the first social prescribing software to be conformant to the new social prescribing standards.
Here this month we are helping to raise awareness of social prescribing across primary care in many different ways. Firstly we have published a thought leadership guide with all that needs to be explained about implementing social prescribing across primary care successfully and how at Access Elemental we work hard with our customers to make processes as streamlined as possible so they can get the best outcomes.
In our guide, we address the survey we sent out to our primary care customers and how they stated that securing future funding is currently their biggest concern. We have provided guidance and examples of what we have done to enable our customers to secure multi-funding streams through our platform so they never have to solely rely on one funding stream ever again.
Equally, at the end of this month, we are promoting the benefits of social prescribing in primary care further during our open lounge on the 31st of January. Here we are explaining how social prescribing can help reduce non-clinical GP appointments as well as save clinicians time and the money that can be saved because of it.
During our webinar, we will also be joined by Age UK Barnet who will be explaining firsthand the improvements and benefits they have experienced since they started working with us at Access Elemental. This includes a 65% decrease in GP appointments and 75% of patients feeling happier with life after using social prescribing.
Like most people, we have started the year off with a bang and want to help continue to prove social prescribing works.
For more information on how best to overcome the challenges of social prescribing across primary care download our guide today and while you are there sign up to join our open lounge to hear first-hand from one of our customers about how we can help you deliver the best social prescribing possible across your primary care settings.
Discover more about The Access Group HSC:
Access HSC is a portfolio of integrated solutions empowers professionals in healthcare, support, and social care services to deliver joined-up quality and preventative care. With over 30 years of experience, we support local authorities alongside small, medium, and large organisations, to focus on the individual with the freedom to make it personal.
