Evidence The impact of social prescribing on health service use and costs

November 2024

This report summarises the analysis of social prescribing evaluation data from nine  local health systems. The data is drawn from publicly available evaluations of social prescribing in England and case studies identified through NASP’s ongoing work with Integrated Care Systems.

Evaluations carried out in nine local health systems across England found that social prescribing can substantially reduce pressure on the NHS, including through:

• reduced GP appointments
• reduced hospital admissions
• reduced A&E visits