Heritage professionals: How to connect with social prescribing

In this section

What is social prescribing?

Social prescribing involves connecting people to activities, groups and information to help improve their health and wellbeing. It can benefit individuals, the health system, the economy and the environment.  

Within the NHS, patients may be referred to Social Prescribing Link Workers. Link workers have the time to understand social factors affecting health and wellbeing – including loneliness, debt or problems with housing – and connect patients to non-medical support in their community. This could include referring them to projects like yours. 

Why should I get involved? 

There is more and more evidence about the wellbeing benefits of engaging with heritage and the historic environment.  Heritage has the power to change lives, and through social prescribing it can support those in the greatest need. 

Getting involved in social prescribing helps demonstrate the wellbeing impact and public benefit of heritage – and means you are contributing to some of the biggest challenges in society. The NHS is aiming to create a neighbourhood health service, with more care available in communities. Social prescribing gives you the chance to contribute to this work and demonstrate your social value and impact. 

Working collaboratively with health services, communities and other partners can also help you become better connected and understand how to help address local needs and health inequality through your work.  

How does it fit into my work? 

Heritage organisations can get involved in social prescribing in many ways, for example by: 

  • providing ‘hubs’ for wellbeing and social prescribing (for example, Delapre Abbey) 

  • providing data  - through evaluation or research

  • acting as a funder (for example, the NLHF or AHF) 

Social prescribing can be part of something your organisation already offers – through heritage tours, archaeological digs, reminiscence sessions or wellbeing walks – adjusted to fit the needs of a specific group (for example, at Blenheim Palace). Or it can be a purposefully developed project (for example, Archaeology on Prescription). 

Developing a successful heritage social prescribing project

The following sections give you more information on developing a successful social prescribing project.  

  • Focus on people's needs

  • Understand challenges 

  • Secure funding for your social prescribing project 

  • Work with Social Prescribing Link Workers 

  • Work with partners  

  • Communications and public engagement 

  • Safeguarding 

  • Evaluation 

  • Sustainability 

  • Training and learning 

 

You can also find more information through Historic England’s e-learning modules on Heritage and Wellbeing and Heritage and Social Prescribing

Focus on people's needs 

A successful heritage social prescribing project is one that follows a needs-based approach. This means identifying the needs and priorities of the local area and the social groups most affected by health inequalities.   

You should co-design and co-produce your work with relevant health and voluntary sector partners and with the people that the activities will serve (i.e. lived experience groups). 

Use data to inform your understanding and the design of your project

 

Use and analyse public health data and local needs and health data. This is available from local health organisations and other relevant bodies such as:  

  • local NHS trusts 

  • local Primary Care Networks and GP surgeries 

  • Integrated Care Partnerships 

  • local Social Prescribing Link Workers 

  • public health authorities 

  • local authorities  

  • charities.  

Local public health officers will also be able to tell you about local health priorities. Useful websites include Public Health England’s annual Health Profiles  

 

Seek advice 

 

Seek advice about local needs from Social Prescribing Link Workers and other health practitioners such as clinicians, occupational therapists, psychologists, community and charity workers, public health officers, and other experts. Explore together how your work can help address any of these issues, who may benefit most and what your social prescribing offer may look like.  

 

Speak to the people you want to help 

Once you have identified who you are aiming to reach, use the knowledge of people with lived experience to create the most efficient, beneficial, and safest project. Set up focus groups to discuss their needs.  

Keep the beneficiaries involved throughout the development process of your project and test your activities with a focus group before launching them, where possible. Remain flexible throughout the delivery of any activities and prepared to make changes where necessary. Learn from the participants and their feedback and let these learnings inform the design of the longer-term programme.  

Understand challenges 

There are well-known access barriers to maximising the wellbeing potential of heritage:  

 

  • Language and terminology - there are conflicting and sometimes problematic perceptions about “heritage” and “social prescribing” and what these terms mean

  • Psychological barriers - with some groups and individuals not feeling welcome (e.g. because their ethnic or social group has never been represented historically in these places) 

  • Physical barriers - such as transport to sites in remote locations, or existing access barriers for people with disabilities in old buildings or archaeological sites

  • Financial barriers - including high prices for tickets or memberships to enter sites.   

It is important to be aware of these barriers and engage beneficiaries and stakeholders early on to ensure that they are addressed efficiently during your planning stage. It is impossible to offer heritage on prescription without finding appropriate solutions around access to sites and activities.  

 

Improving engagement with heritage: 

  • Prioritise access from the beginning. People won’t take part if they don’t feel welcome or represented.  

  • Invite representatives of the groups you hope will benefit from the activity / service to help you understand what barriers they experience when engaging with heritage. Involve these groups in the production of your social prescribing project.  

  • Contact organisations working with the groups you wish to reach to understand their needs and views better. These partners will also help you design the most appropriate approaches, based on their expertise and experience.  

  • Find out what the perception of heritage and social prescribing is – often there are issues around language and terminology. Work to establish preferred language and terminology, as well as delivery pathways.  

  • Explore every opportunity to diversify audiences and volunteer pools. People who have completed a project may then wish to take up volunteering themselves, making the work more sustainable.   

Resources on heritage, diversity and inclusion   

 

Secure funding for your social prescribing project 

Funding is crucial for the development and delivery of any social prescribing activity or programme. The National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) and its strategic partners are making the case for the establishment of a Shared Investment Fund for social prescribing.

  

For now, funding for social prescribing services is patchy and mainly secured through grants. Still, there are many successful examples of heritage organisations attracting funding for social prescribing provision.  

 

Top tips for increasing the chances of receiving funding for social prescribing: 

Planning 

  • Research funders who could be interested in supporting a heritage social prescribing programme – they could be traditional heritage funders, such as the NLHF, charities working in specific area of wellbeing, such as Mind or Age UK, private funders, supporting community development, like the Garfield Weston Foundation, as well as health commissioners, like the Integrated Care Boards 

  • Have a clear plan that you can share with funders – with specific and concise objectives, existing and planned partnerships, appropriate methodologies, activities and budgets.  

  • Share evidence from previous work demonstrating wellbeing outcomes for individuals and communities. 

  • Place wellbeing and addressing local needs at the centre of what you want to achieve with your project.  

  • Include a budget for training on safeguarding and working with vulnerable people (and specific needs groups, according to the planned type of beneficiaries of your programme) in the funding request. 

  • Define a start and end date for the proposed activities, if they are used for a referral. A clear ‘journey’ will help the participants to feel a sense of accomplishment and achievement as they go through.  

  • Ensure good and proportionate evaluation is embedded from the beginning [link to evaluation section].  

  • Plan for the sustainability of your proposed programme after its formal end.   

Collaboration 

  • Engage partners from relevant health, wellbeing and voluntary organisations involved in social prescribing. Work together to identify potential funding sources that you may have not used before. 

  • Demonstrate understanding and knowledge of local needs, challenges, health priorities and inequalities in your finding application. 

  • Show how the work will further develop the relationship between heritage and health providers and widen engagement with people in the community who are not often able to access heritage assets and health services. 

Opportunities 

  • Engaging with social prescribing and wellbeing services doesn’t have to incur big costs– explore opportunities to include referrals in your main activity (i.e. volunteering, community engagement and development, focused working with specific groups), or integrate your offer in existing social prescribing pathways, such as green, cultural or physical activity-based social prescribing programmes.  

  • Having opportunities for people to go onto after finishing their social prescribing referral is crucial for avoiding abrupt endings and ensuring lasting impact for individuals.  

  • Explore further opportunities for match funding and invest in long-term partnerships with health, voluntary sector and private organisations with similar objectives and interests. 

More guidance on funding for small projects and charities 
 

 

Main funders for heritage organisations 

Working with Social Prescribing Link Workers and health teams 

Social Prescribing Link Workers help people to connect with local community activities and services that can improve their health and wellbeing.  They will be able to refer people into your project. 

If you are not in touch with Link Workers already, read our guide to how to find your local social prescribing service.  

Use our conversation prompts to help you plan your meeting with Link Workers, including what to ask them. 

 

Demonstrate the benefits of your project 

 

If you establish contact with a Link Worker, approach them with an offer to help. Most Link Workers are under pressure and face great demand for the service they provide, so they can’t be aware of every wellbeing activity that exists in their area – however they are always on the lookout for new referrals.  

Approach them respectfully and ask about their needs. Try to find out what sort of activities are in greatest demand and what sort of issues they are working to address, then work out if that’s something your programme or site can help with.  

 

Summarise for the Link Worker the main wellbeing effects of your heritage social prescribing project:  

  • Why it will be good for people’s health and wellbeing 

  • Who will benefit 

  • How they will benefit.  

Share any available data on the wellbeing and health impact of your work, including any feedback from participants, visitors or partners. 

Invite the Link Worker to visit and explore your site and be open to discuss and co-design a referral process that benefits everyone.   

 

Develop collaborative networking and information sharing in accessible and experimental ways:  

 

  • Host link worker coffee morning visits

  • Hold meetings in heritage spaces

  • Propose meet and greet invitations and events.  

If a Link Worker can visit and explore the activity and service on offer, they are much more likely to support it and include it in a potential social prescribing referral.  

As your project develops, continue to form relationships with Link Workers and other health and wellbeing staff, such as health and wellbeing coaches, occupational therapists and psychologists to gather their feedback.  

Don’t assume that established contacts will remain static. It is important to check in with contacts and update lists as people move on. Prioritise efforts to make yourselves visible and known.  

It is also a good idea to explore pathways where participants can self-refer onto heritage wellbeing opportunities. 

How To Find Your Local Social Prescribing Service

Working with partners 

Mapping and planning

 

Mapping local social prescribing, health and voluntary sector services is a crucial part of all successful heritage social prescribing projects. These partners include: 

  • health services – local GP surgeries, Social Prescribing Link Workers, other relevant health professionals (Health and Wellbeing Coaches, Community Navigators etc), Integrated Care Board and Integrated Care Partnership representatives, hospitals with community services 

  • charities - such as Age UK, Mind, Crisis and others, depending on areas and groups of need 

  • voluntary organisations – local Community and Voluntary Service (CVS) and individual groups 

  • social enterprise organisations 

  • community organisations 

  • faith communities 

  • academics  

  • public bodies, local authorities and offices whose work relates to health and wellbeing, such as public health, social services and youth justice services.  

Create a list of potential partners, depending on the local needs you will be addressing. Invest time and resources in building relationships with them in the initial development stage. Use their expertise and experience to develop appropriate social prescribing programmes, activities and referral pathways, as well as training and evaluation approaches.  

Partnerships with the right organisations and services will also help to promote awareness about the benefits of your project and recruit volunteers and participants.   

 

Make use of existing networks 

There are lots of existing non-heritage networks and organisations with valuable expertise  (for example national networks that are delivered locally, such as the Active Partnerships).  Working with and learning from these bodies increases the reach of projects and can bring additional expertise and resource to support them. 

It is worthwhile joining regional VCSE alliances to boost understanding and relationships with local organisations that could already be social prescribing providers. It will also help you to learn from what's already working well locally.  

Try to find out what organisations are represented in regional Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs) and establish good relationships. Explore if your organisation can take part directly in the ICP.  

Develop knowledge about the local NHS structures (e.g. Integrated Care Systems and NHS Trusts) and services and reach out to them.  

Build on the experience and knowledge of other social prescribing projects in your area – look at green social prescribing, nature connection, sport and physical activity, and arts on prescription. If you are working with a particular client group (for example, older people), consider forming a partnership with a charity that works with that group (Age UK, Independent Age etc). 

 

If you know a good social prescribing project near you, go and find out more about it. Learn about their partnerships with health and other social prescribers and the referral pathways they have developed. 

 

Connect with organisations that may host online and other directories and signposting services, such as: 

  • existing wellbeing and health hubs 

  • libraries 

  • museums 

  • tourist offices 

  • community and arts centres, 

  • voluntary, community and social enterprise service centres.  

Explore opportunities to attend Link Workers’ team meetings, to receive online weekly updates from social prescribing services, take part in referral meetings, get involved in the work of other voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, delivering social prescribing, and join Locality Health forums and similar networks. 

 

Useful local networks 

 

 

Implementing the project 

 

Set up an advisory group with as wide a range of stakeholders as possible: 

  • representatives of the beneficiaries of your project / activities 

  • Relevant local authorities' services, such as public health or social care 

  • Social Prescribing Link Workers and / or other health partners 

  • voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise partners  

  • other sector colleagues that have experience in social prescribing and / or in working with this specific group / issue 

  • academics or evaluators  

  • experts with lived experience (most NHS trusts will have experts by lived experience and opportunities for patient-public involvement).  

Listen to feedback 

As you develop and deliver your programme, listen to feedback and evidence and embrace change. Remain flexible and be prepared to amend your project so it meets the needs of the community you serve. 

 

Use the Creative Health Toolkit, produced by the National Centre for Creative Health and the Creative Health Quality Framework, as well as the Green Social Prescribing Toolkit, developed by Natural England and NASP, which are excellent resources on good practice in this area. 

 

Communications and public engagement 

Plan 

Plan an awareness campaign at the start of your activity. There is a relatively low level of awareness about the link between heritage and health - even in areas rich in heritage and community assets. Share any available data on how heritage can help – and how your programme or activity will support people’s wellbeing.   

Two great resources on communication and best practice are: Good practice mentors programme the Campaign for ending loneliness and the Ageing better programme.  

Be clear 

Be clear what is on offer with consistent messaging in your engagement campaign. It’s important not to overcomplicate projects and try to be all things to all participants. 

Reach 

Ensure that your offer reaches the people you aim to support and those who help them, such as health workers, social workers, friends and families. Get involved in local festivals, celebrations and community events, relevant to health and wellbeing, where you can share information about your heritage social prescribing offer. 

Think about how you will reach your target groups – through social media, parish notice boards, newsletters, press. Often what works best is personal and direct engagement in the places where they gather, work and live. Proactively invite and engage those that will benefit most, do not wait for them to find you. Consult professionals and organisations with experience and expertise in working with these communities to design the most suitable way of approaching and engaging them.  

Learn from others 

Include your activity in other wider social prescribing events such as wellbeing festivals and conferences, green social prescribing programmes or community wellbeing hubs offers – especially where there are schemes and pathways that have already worked well.  Learn from them and see if you can develop and offer an activity or a pathway that could be integrated with what already works.  

Celebrate 

Share the impact of the activity or project widely. Plan how you will share findings and data with stakeholders, funders and the wider public from the beginning.  Invest time and resources to mark the positive results of the work – for the beneficiaries and the community.  

 

Safeguarding 

Heritage professionals love what they do, and they want to help people benefit from everything that heritage and the historic environment have to offer. However, this is not always a straightforward process, especially when we talk about working with vulnerable people. Many heritage practitioners have concerns that they don’t have the necessary knowledge or experience to approach such work safely. Understanding the importance of safeguarding - for both staff and the people who will benefit from your project - is crucial.   

Your staff and colleagues 

The safeguarding measures necessary for the planned work will depend very much on the level and type of needs of both participants and activity providers.  

Usually, referrals for lower levels of need do not require specialist support and it may be enough to organise basic relevant training for staff members, such as first aid or mental health awareness.  

When the beneficiaries are people with more specific or higher level of needs, however, the help of specialist partner organisation (with the relevant expertise and experience) will be needed, to establish safe practices and to provide the necessary support for your team and the participants.    

Heritage staff may have neurodivergent needs themselves. This may make their work with groups and individuals with greater needs more difficult and may even put their welfare at risk. Safeguarding both staff and participants is key. 

Establishing boundaries from the start of any activity is crucial to avoid any safeguarding incidents. Be clear about beginning and end of any planned activities, as well as around individual team member’s roles and responsibilities, to help everyone involved have realistic expectations and help them progress through all stages of their experience.  

Overall, ensure that the project team have the correct information, training, and experience to maintain safe practice and protect themselves and the people they will work with. 

Heritage support 

It is increasingly recognised that freelance facilitators and practitioners need to be supported with reflective practice and supervision too but are often left out from training and safeguarding  considerations.  Practitioner support & wellbeing. Training and knowledge exchange opportunities are relevant resources to help both creative health and heritage practitioners in navigating these challenges. 

Expert support 

People referred through social prescribing will not necessarily require support from heritage professionals to engage in the activities. Often, they will have a social worker, health practitioner, or a charity worker who will have that role. This depends on each individual case, so it is important to be clear whether referrals will require additional support and if this support will be provided.  Ask the Link Worker / referrer to supply this information and advice on any necessary support for the people referred.  The participants' care should be carefully detailed and agreed upon at the start of the referral. It should remain a responsibility of the Link Worker / social prescriber - or of a separate specialised health professional, where needed, whose role should be included in the referral.  

Group support 

People managing mental health issues tend to support each other. Encourage group engagement as a regular activity but be aware that the group members may also require additional support themselves. Professional staff facilitation and help in providing this will be essential. 

External clinical supervision 

This is highly recommended for those who are undertaking social prescribing work with vulnerable people. Heritage professionals involved in such projects have found the opportunity to talk and reflect on their experiences hugely beneficial to their well-being and professional development. Consider partnering with organisations able to provide this supervision.  

Resources:  

Evaluation 

Evaluation is crucial for demonstrating the impact and the results of a project or a programme. This matters even more when the aims of the work are to improve individual or community wellbeing and to support people in need.   

 

How much evaluation? 

 

Evaluation should be proportionate and relevant to the scale and character of the project. A university researcher or a big national organisation may develop a detailed theory of change, evaluation framework and complex methodology with combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to evaluating the impact of a social prescribing programme. However, a local heritage trust or a museum with a handful of staff and volunteers could do well enough with a concise before-and-after survey or with collating qualitative feedback from participants and sharing lessons learned.  

 

Overall, funders, beneficiaries, partners and the staff themselves will be keen to know that as a result of your work: 

 

  • people feel and live better 

  • the relationships between health and activity providers are working well 

  • there is less need for medication and hospital appointments  

  • community health provision is supported. 

There are a few simple principles to ensure good evaluation:  

  • Evaluation should be planned from the very beginning, as part of the collaboration and co-design of the whole project.  

  • The methods and techniques used should be validated and of high quality to ensure that your results are robust, reliable and useful.  

  • Evaluation should be proportionate and relevant to the scale and character of the project. 

Historic England are developing a Social Impact framework, which will help heritage practitioners to carry out confidently wellbeing evaluation as part of their work, including for social prescribing projects and activities. Meanwhile, there are a range of quality resources that have been used successfully by heritage practitioners to measure and demonstrate the value of their social prescribing programmes.  

 

Evaluation tools 

Heritage and Social Prescribing - the evidence

Sustainability 

The sustainability of your social prescribing provision is crucial for those involved on all levels: 

  • People who benefit from your project or activity need opportunities to continue their engagement after the end of their referrals, to avoid a drop in their wellbeing.  

  • Your organisation will benefit from establishing long-term programmes that contribute to individual and community wellbeing, with a potential for attracting long-term investment 

  • Link Workers need a consistent flow of good quality social activities to refer people to, followed by opportunities for further engagement after the end of the referral.  

Include sustainability in your planning 

It is important to consider sustainability from the beginning of any project.  While planning, engage partners and wider stakeholders in discussions around questions like:  

  • How can funding be secured in the longer term? Who will support the project / activities in the future? Explore funding opportunities together, such as grants, local government support, partnerships or opportunities to get longer commissions.   

  • What opportunities for continued involvement (whether through volunteering, employment, becoming a local heritage champion or a heritage connector etc) will there be for participants after the end of the project? This will ensure that the client benefits are maintained for the long-term and not just for the length of the referral.
     

How the National Academy for Social Prescribing can help you 

The National Academy for Social Prescribing is working on a Shared Investment Fund for social prescribing. This should offer an opportunity for local voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise organisations to apply for long-term financial support for their social prescribing activity.  

 

You can also find support by joining our Innovation Network, where you can connect with other organisations. 

Innovation Network

Training and learning 

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