Is social prescribing effective?
For staff working in health and social care, for people delivering activities in their local community, for people who are looking for support, and the people who care about them, it is important to understand whether the evidence confirms that social prescribing can help deliver what they need.
Research interest in social prescribing has grown over the last few years. It’s important we help people to find the evidence they need now. Here at NASP, we help to summarise the best available evidence and we find and address the key evidence gaps. To help us, we bring together partnerships with expert researchers and leading academic institutions from across the UK and around the world. We also work closely with evidence leads from our national partners, including the NHS.
We are using the best available evidence to help us make the case for social prescribing. Every day, we see how it can make a real difference and help more people live better, happier lives. We are committed to using the evidence to make the case for social prescribing.
The International Evidence Collaborative
The International Evidence Collaborative is a platform for anyone with an interest in social prescribing evidence and a network for new partnerships. Together we will support social prescribing policy, practice and research to thrive, by bringing people together to share evidence better.
The data so far - a snapshot of social prescribing
For every £1 of the £180,000 funding spent supporting vulnerable people, the social prescribing service produced more than £10 of benefits in terms of better health.
A significant (40%) reduction was seen in visits to the GP... It is therefore highly likely that the social prescribing service is having a significant reduction on the number of GP consultations.
Social prescribing, including community-based arts on prescription, can impact wellbeing and self-efficacy, and alleviate pressure on community nursing and community mental health services.
The evidence for social prescribing is here to help you:
- Access information that you can apply to your work in social prescribing
- Understand how social prescribing can contribute to wellbeing, support volunteering, and reduce costs
- Feel positive about the benefits of social prescribing, and the robust research behind it
Contribute your voice to the evidence for social prescribing
As we build the evidence for social prescribing, we want you to play an active role in the process. This is a dynamic space, with new research underway all the time. If there’s something you’d like to see that would be useful, please tell us. We also welcome feedback on our existing research.
