NHS England has published new Neighbourhood Health Guidelines for 2025/26.
It lists core aims for the next 5-10 years, which include “connecting people accessing health and care to wider public services and third sector support, including social care, public health and other local government services.”
Social prescribing is the key way of connecting the health system with these wider forms of support. Link workers and many other health roles need to be able to take a personalised approach, based on each patient’s circumstances and preferences, and have clear pathways to ensure people access the right support in communities.
The guidance also specifically refers to social prescribing in section D:
“Functions include overseeing or delivering holistic joint assessments, case reviews and deployment of coordinated provision, medication reviews, care planning for long-term conditions and personalised care and support planning, including social prescribing.”
Charlotte Osborn-Forde, Chief Executive of NASP, said:
“We welcome the inclusion of social prescribing in the guidelines, and the longer term focus on improving connections with voluntary organisations and wider public services.
“There are some excellent examples across England of systems and GP practices using social prescribing approaches to achieve the vision set out for neighbourhood health in the Fuller report, such as using data to identify people who could most benefit, and integrating social prescribing within proactive frailty services.
“We will continue to produce guidance and resources to support the NHS with maximising the potential of social prescribing in neighbourhood health later this year.”
