Over the last year a new scheme called social prescribing has been developed which hopes to bring healthcare into the community.
Social prescribing is a relatively new service, which is designed to help people address their physical and mental health and general well-being by connecting them to support within the community.
The scheme empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing by giving people a holistic approach by connecting people to community groups and services for practical and emotional support.
Morgan Sharpe is a social prescribing team leader from Partners Health in Rushcliffe who says helping people outside of a clinical setting is a very rewarding job.
She said: “Not everything can be solved by medication and sometimes people need longer than a 10 minute appointment to get to the bottom of an issue. That’s where we come in. GPs can refer people to social prescribing link workers who then have long conversations with the patient to unpick the problem and find solutions.
“We can refer people onto the right place for help and look into the deeper issues behind people’s worries. For example, the cause of someone’s anxiety may be helped through community groups, help at home, help with money troubles and we are there to support and help with that.”
Morgan has been working in health improvement for 15 years and says she is very lucky to work in a profession that helps people so directly.
Some examples of help on offer include working on allotments, mindfulness groups, coffee mornings, paddle boarding and community groups.
Morgan added: “We want to help people to help themselves. Since Covid-19 hit, I think a lot more people now need our support than ever before. The virus has affected people mentally and physically and we are now seeing lots of fear, anxiety and loneliness as a result. It is more important than ever that people reach out to get the right support, especially now.”
You can be referred to a link worker through your GP. Once you have been referred you will be contacted within 5 days to discuss further and an appointment with a link worker will be arranged.
