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Written question asked by Vicky Foxcroft (Labour) on Wednesday, 16 October 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 21 October 2019. It was answered by Jo Churchill (Conservative) on Friday, 25 October 2019 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Loneliness: Social Prescribing

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 25 of the Government's strategy for tackling loneliness, published in October 2018, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of social prescribing since that strategy was published; and if he will make a statement.

Answer

No assessment has been made.

In the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement committed to deliver at least £4.5 billion of new investment in primary medical and community health services over the next five years. Part of this investment will support the recruitment of over 1,000 trained social prescribing link workers in place by the end of 2020/21, rising further by 2023/24, with the aim that over 900,000 people are able to be referred to social prescribing schemes by then.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are working to get all social prescribing services, local commissioners and providers involved in measuring the impact of social prescribing locally. It has developed a Common Outcomes Framework (COF) for social prescribing which will enable social prescribing connector schemes across the country to capture core impact data. This will help to create a consistent evidence base; support the business case; and, build a national picture of the impact of social prescribing. The outcomes cover three key areas: the impact on the person; the impact on community groups; and the impact on the health and care system. NHS England and NHS Improvement will be working with stakeholders in a phased approach over the next two years to embed the use of the measures in the COF for the evaluation of social prescribing schemes.

The COF can be found via the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/social-prescribing-community-based-support-summary-guide.pdf

On 23 October 2019, the Government launched a new independent organisation: the National Academy for Social Prescribing, which is set to receive £5 million in grant funding from April next year to support its work. Since its development was announced in November 2018, the Department and NHS England have been working with a broad range of partners both in and out of Government to build consensus on the form and focus of the organisation in order that it deliver the greatest impact. The Academy will be working to: build and promote the evidence base for social prescribing and sharing best practice; developing training and accreditation across sectors; exploring new models and sources of funding; and, helping to broker relationships between sectors.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
1070
Session
2019-19
Subjects
Loneliness Social prescribing
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk