Transcript EdgeTalks 8 September – Radical redesign and disruption – the next frontier for social prescribing

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JANET WILDMAN:
I'm going to make a start. Now, thanks so much that is really helpful. My name is Janet
Wildman, and welcome to everyone who has joined us on the telephone or log down. Welcome
to Edge Talk on 8 September and were talking about radical and redesign instructions for social
prescribing, and I know there is a feature and has a lot of qualifications of the expo.
I'm also joined by my Edge Talk team who is Leigh Kendall, we'll be hearing from her later on
today. If you need to speak to her. I'm also joined by Paul Woodley, and he is if you have any
issues, contact him and he wants you with your concerns.
If you are joining in today and beyond, if you are not the chat room, why not tweet #edgetalks
and (inaudible). So we will be keeping an eye on Twitter and feeding back into the session
today.
So before I go any further, I just wanted to introduce Bev Taylor, she is a fascinating woman
way, anyone who has not met her as of yet, she is great, fairly passionate about what she is
done. She comes from a very interesting, very varied background.
Definitely as I was saying, she is then working as a connector or leader for such a long time.
She is a lot of wisdom, practical wisdom to the agenda. So I'm going to hand over to be as and
she has a support team of other people, Sarah is from York CBS and Jenni.
Bev, a land over to you to take it from there.
BEV TAYLOR:
I'm just checking to make sure that you can me now?
JANET WILDMAN:
I can hear you.
BEV TAYLOR:
Under track and follow the introduction, but I'll do my best. I just want to have an introduction
and I want to very quickly handover to Debbie Taylor and she would tell us about her life
experience and what social describing really means.
Janet, can you just put my next slide forward. Can we check… That is it. So we want to share
thinking about the social prescribing and what it's like on the ground.
I want to hear from you, and were ready starting to do that. That is great. From my perspective,
a lot of people tell me they hate the term social prescribing, and I do get that. I can see it sounds
too medical.
It is currency, it's what people are talking about all the time. For me, it's about connecting people
for well-being, enabling people to connect with each other and it is about link workers who can
give time to people.

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If you think GPs do not have time, they've only got that 10 min. If you think about people that
are more complex needs, struggling to maintain long-term positions, lonely isolated, the GPs
can refer to a link worker community sector service.
If you see at the bottom in the yellow box, we see the community connect to services that
employ link workers as being absolutely essential to building this across the country.
We've got to be really clear, this is a powershift, supporting people to take control of their own
health and well-being. It is not that we are moving away from that medical model of, you know,
doctors do stuff to us, this is about us being in control.
And it is about a shift away from traditional services. Of course, we still want traditional services,
but we know that, really, we want communities well. We want to live, not just a service.
We want to be able to connect with our neighbours, and the social service. So if you think about
the horrible stuff that happens around terrorism. This summer, people are desperate to help
each other. People are looking and add supporting each other through community.
Social prescribing is about how we do that when we don't have those horrible disasters, when
we do it the rest of the time.
So one key element for me is that this is about coproduction, so when the person sits down with
a link worker, the conversation is based on what matters to me, what am I struggling with? What
are my priorities? So would build a plan that is about… That makes a difference to me.
Last but from a before handover to Deb, as you will know, this is an asset based approach, we
look at what we already have an local area, how we build it together, how we get rid of those
unhelpful hierarchy is between statutory and voluntary, between paid and unpaid and build a
shared approach together because everyone is needed if we are going to change that traditional
model.
I suppose there is one key thing for me, which is about, we can't expect the voluntary and
community sectors to receive a huge number of referrals through social prescribing for free.
If we are doing this more… More than one or two GP practices, it is appropriate to start small
and build it up. Across the whole, social prescribing as across the whole social prescribing
needs, three areas, 105 GP practices, everyone is referring to voluntary and community sector.
We can't just expect that voluntary and community sector to absolve all the extra work and/or
the extra support without being supported themselves.
So that is a really clear message from me and I'm going to hand over now to Debs Tauylor from
creative minds who is going to tell us about her experience.
DEBS TAYLOR:
Thanks for that, Bev. I been in the sector for quite sometime and I've had people tell me how I
need to respond. Tell me what to do. Growing up, this is what I expected it to be. Having done
that, you get used to that, you do not know any different.

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I was told from an expert, but I would always be ill and I will do is be medicated and never work
again. But experts are telling you that this is the best life is going to be, there's not much hope,
there's not much to look forward to, or to have any sort of existence or happiness in life.
I took an oath 7 1/2 years ago, just lost my mum and we had a major issue in the family, I was
at the lowest step where anyone could be.
I was referred to as a psychological services, I have seen them before countless times, I've
been in the system for two years, I've done lots of services and treatments, therapies along the
way. But while I was sitting in the waiting rooms of the assessment for the psychological
services, this leaflet, creating minds for well-being. I don't know why on earth they picked the
lead with an art, but I did pick it up, this gave me a lift, and existence.
More importantly, it gave me an identity, I just did not think I was a number anymore, but I was
somebody who had belonged, had purpose. In meaning. This is something I've never
experienced before. It was unusual to feel. I call it a fire in my belly. It was something, got onto
me.
What annoyed me was the fact that this professional had said this to me, and, quite angry. I
started doing talks on giving people hope. They might be saying that they are an expert, but we
do not necessarily know the full answers of everything.
Maybe we can find them in ourselves and through the art, I started learning more about myself
than ever possible, really, and a journey of being on has been absolutely incredible. It has just
been wonderful to see and feel and belong.
And I was in Birmingham yesterday, we were talking about whether I will be involved in social
prescribing. In the 6 1/2 years that I have been doing the art project, I've gone from being a 21
tablets a day, bedbound for quite a lot of the time through mental health and my children were
my carers.
A benefit in education for 5 1/2 years, been out of services the two years and I am now working
in (inaudible) and an HS expert told me I would never work again which is changed my
corridors.
This has given me a life, and existence, the being of me, how I am, and what my life is like.
You cannot put a price on how my life is about what was then. I am off benefits for the first time
in 14 1/2 years, having been medically retired due to mental illness in my previous job.
I did this to inspire, and professional started to listen, asked me to do talks of various events. To
me, it's about educating people, tell people that the rugged things out there and we need to use
them. We need to make use of them, we need to offer people more choice and more options
and I'm not saying art as a service that works everybody because it doesn't.
I work for creative minds which is a charity based in South Yorkshire, and a trust which is a
mental health trust. It is a complimentary service, and we are asking people to look at different

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options. The people. Let's look and find an sequel we can get out there for people. Get them to
think differently, to act differently. Most importantly, to empower them to deal with their problems
and their issues because they know that problem better than the person who is living with it.
And if we can empower them to think differently and maybe they can make themselves better,
and have confidence in their own ability, certainly in the mental health trust, they do not give you
that trust, they don't give you the ability that you can manage your own condition. While as
somebody who has done in our class, now managing very well, the running condition, I want to
dispute that say art has been a wonderful service to me, the live server, even.
Art did saved my life. The picture on the screen, I was asked at one of the talks if I wanted to
have a cuppa tea with the Queen, and I thought it was taking the Michael out of me. I wish I
knew what was possible, if you are given the chance and options in the different areas that you
can work in. Social prescribing is just another option, one of the options that has been a click
complete live server. The benefits to me far outweigh treatment that I have been involved in.
It is so incredible to have that identity, to be that person and just one simple art class, it
transformed my life beyond anything I ever expected, dreamt of, you know, who would have
thought that seven years ago, when I was led up a bed and 21 tablets a day, zombified and the
really see abuse heavy medication that I was on, but I would be invited to go to Buckingham
Palace, for tea with the Queen, but I would be asked to talk at the King's Fund and meet Prince
Charles.
It was about giving people that hope, you know, I'm not saying that everyone can have such a
wonderful journey as what I've had, but that we can improve their life a little bit, that we can
make their lives a little bit better and understand themselves and their conditions and make it
happier and more enjoyable to be them.
I just want people to see that, you know, we are all on a journey; we all need things to help and
inspire, and if we can do that by social prescribing, that is brilliant.
Just before I go, I want to add that we did a poll earlier about funding. The NHS were paying 2
1/2 thousand pounds on my medication for each year. That doesn't include any of the
specialists I saw, any of the counselling or treatments - just my medication.
The art class I went to with Creative Minds cost less than £2000 for two years. We are already
saving money. Even if you have to put a little bit in, it does work. If you are saving 2.5 thousand
a year just on medication, you can imagine how much the NHS are now saving because I found
a simple art class that transformed my life.
Thank you very much. I'm not sure who I need to pass on to now.
BEV TAYLOR:
That is fantastic. You always blow me away, and I'm sure everyone else will feel blown away by
your courage and your amazing leadership, so I will now pass onto Sarah Armstrong. Look,
there is Debs meeting Prince Charles!
I will pass unto Sarah Armstrong from YorkCVS who will talk about running a connecting

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service, so Sarah, take it away.
SARAH ARMSTRONG:
Thank you for the opportunity. It is fantastic to be part of this today, to be able to tell you a bit
more about our local service in York.
Our local service is called Way to Wellbeing, and basically, it is about finding the right way to
well-being for people.
So, in the 10 minutes I have, I want to tell you for things about our journey along the path in
York. I want to tell you briefly about how we got started, I want to share some highlights on
some challenges, and then to finish by saying how we know we are making a difference for
people, which neatly leads us on to our future as an organisation.
Now, getting started for us, there were absolutely two key elements that we couldn't have got off
the ground without. The first is that we have an amazing GP who leads a group of practices,
and she believes that this would give patients something different, and something that GPs
couldn't or shouldn't provide, and she gave us access to everything, all of her lovely GP
colleagues, access to systems, she helped us develop the models, and she stood alongside us
when we were trying to explain it to people who didn't quite understand what it was all about.
She continues to be our biggest champion for this service, and we are absolutely so lucky to
have this relationship with her.
The second bit, and it already relates to what has been said already, was that our local
government provided funding, and that was a bit of a leap of faith, but they shared the belief that
this might make a difference for people.
All this happened just under two years ago, and in that two years, there have been many, many
highlights. It is actually very difficult to pick some. I just want to quickly share three with you.
The first is about the number of people who have been part of this service. We had over 220
referrals so far, and we have been operational for about 18 months because it took a bit of time
to develop the service.
In that time, we have had just over 220 people being part of it, and when we first started and
went to practice meetings, we were using theoretical case studies, so we were saying that you
might see a patient, and these are the kinds of things they might be sharing with you, and you
might want to offer something different, and this is how it would work, and this is what we would
do, but it was all theoretical because we didn't have any cases at that stage.
The last GP practice that we embedded ourselves within, as soon as we arrived, we didn't have
to do any kind of instruction. They said, "We have her do you are and it is brilliant you are here.
Tell us how we can do this."
So, because we now have real case studies that are not theoretical, it is much easier to
convince people that this is an alternative option.

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The second thing is about something we call breathe boxes. We had lots of things donated to
us, from bubble bath to colouring packs, and we thought it was a lovely way to introduce people
to the surface, if we made at these boxes with these lovely items to help people relax,
pampered - wouldn't that be a great thing to do? It also enabled us to introduce volunteering to
this service. People who had been part of the service, who had access to it, they could then
volunteer for us and make up the boxes and give them out.
This was a lovely way to then participate in the service differently.
The third is that we have just undertaken a review with one of the lead IT people for a group of
practices, and we focused on 150 patients who each had access to 10 GPs between them, and
we focused on how many appointments they had made and attended in the three months before
they started, and immediately after the service ended, that three-month period, we compared
how many GP appointments they attended, and in that short period of time, there were 30%
less appointments made.
So, a simple thing like these boxes, this is the difference that it makes for people.
Now, I will move onto counters, and I want to talk about funding. I want to talk about that in two
ways. I want to talk about funding first of all in the sense that everybody believes in this.
I constantly talk and it is an easy sell because everyone is persuaded about the benefits.
However, persuading them to be able to fund this is quite a challenge, and what we have done
is introduced a mixed funding model where we ask for smaller amounts so that it can be bought
directly into the community, so across 21 wards in York, we have been to everyone.
We have also found other people in York to sustain the service, but it has been a long journey,
and even though we are having success, it has been difficult.
The second thing about funding is for our voluntary and community sector. We are connecting
service, but if we find somebody who needs help, we can't just add to other people's waiting
lists. It doesn't make sense.
So, this has to be funded in two ways, not just for us to come ordinate and develop this service.
Also, for the voluntary sector who extended their waiting list and enable people to get the
support when they need it, and we have to be able to better fund them in order for this to be
successful.
Moving onto what difference we believe our supporters made to people's lives. I want to tell you
a story. Somebody was referred to us, and over a cup of tea, they told us much more about the
situation. We supported them to get the benefits check, this lady was awarded an allowance,
and because of that, we helped her find a cleaner.
You might say, "What difference does that make?" The important part here is that she had fallen
when she was doing the hovering, and she was terrified. This gave her back her confidence to
live in her own home, but also, if you think about this from a system's point of view, it absolutely
avoided future hospital admissions.

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All of the 220 odd people we have met have told us that life can be overwhelming for them, and
everyone who is listening today, we all know that life can be overwhelming for all of us, and
sometimes, we know what help is available to us, but actually, making that connection is really
difficult, and you just need a helping hand along the way sometimes to be able to get that.
So, in my final minute, I just want to tell you a little bit about what is next for us. Obviously, we
have to secure more funding, and we have to do that because we want this to be citywide, and
we don't want to say no to somebody based on their postcode, where they live or the GP
surgery that they are registered with. We want to be able to say yes if they need help and
support.
We absolutely have to extend that funding for our voluntary and community sector. We can't do
this without them, and we really believe this is the key to a successful social prescribing service.
We want to grow the volunteering element, especially for people who have been part of this
service. We had an example of a lady who had mobility issues and you couldn't really get out of
the house, and what she can do is call people who are wondering whether the service is right
for them.
And say to them, and you think about this and "I'm saying to you right now this is a word to me."
And this is the way to be able to take part and be part of the development service.
Finally, this piece of data delving into GP appointments, we know within the first three month
period after receiving ways to well-being services that the employment usage was a lot less.
What we're really interested in now is in a years time. What will that be like?
In three years, five years time, what will that be like? Not just measuring the difference now, and
the immediate future, but actually in the longer term for people who use the service.
And thank you very much for listening.
BEV TAYLOR:
Thank you, that was really useful for me and browse. One thing I got from that, one was the
fantastic statistic about 30% less appointments. That is consistent with an evidence reviewed
that the innovative Westminster has done, which is published, which shows that where social
prescribing is working effectively, whether as a connector service like what Sarah runs, but on
average 28% less GP appointments are a result of a 24% less attendance to A&E.
That is, for me, a key measure, a key part of the jigsaw puzzle. One thing that you commented
on, Sarah, that others have been commenting, it's the small things that enable people to get
involved that stop them from being a passive recipient of services, to someone who can get
back and support each other. To me, that is the power of social prescribing. That is why we all
doing this and that is the difference we can make which, Debs that is right, it is hard to measure,
but is really significant.
I'm going to hand over to Jennifer Leuffe from elemental software. That their building social
describing in all kinds of ways, so tell us about this place.
SPEAKER:

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I was wondering just before we have this, it if we can hear from (unknown term) Leigh, so
quickly over to you, Leigh.
LEIGH KENDALL:
Thanks everyone for the fantastic talk. Everyone is enjoying debs talk and they are inspired
about how art helps you, Deb. And people are interested in hearing about the power of social
prescribing in helping patients and why things have been held back for them.
So getting involved is one good quote that was just with me, that people were saying that, you
know, the standing in terms of the reduction of GP appointments and people not being able to
try something new which is really good, it's the transforming conversation and new ways to do
things. Keep it coming, so please use #edgetalks. Thank you.
BEV TAYLOR:
Is a straight over to you, Jennifer.
JENNIFER LEUFFE:
I am Jennifer and Leigh is joining me as well, and we are involved in social prescribing an
enterprise within smaller communities, we are aiming to improve their health and well-being. We
want to show the aim for social prescribing and showing what we have done today. We want to
share with you what we have learned, we spoke with different people, nearly 1000 people now
over the last four years to really stand the challenges they are facing and social prescribing. All
the different stakeholders involved and social prescribing, and we listen to other communities,
health care professionals, and the community providers Council, and realise there are so many
other stakeholders in there - associations and health authorities.
There are a lot of people to bring to the table in terms of helping the communities. In terms of
doing that, the digital side of things in our space, in terms of community development, they do
have a role to play. It can't be a downward force whatsoever, but it does have a role to play
because you cannot forget about that face-to-face encounter.
There are so many administrative tasks in terms of actions of the social prescribing process that
we thought, I think we can make this easier for the GPs or nurses or social workers, for the link
workers, the link workers and social prescribers have so much paperwork to go through.
Also, let's see if we can make it easier for the wider community. Everyone starts in the program,
and they have their intentions were, like happens, things get in the way in things happen. So we
started this war can group, and after a few years you're looking after grandkids, and it is about
helping to keep that person engaged.
But it is also about giving flexibility and understanding, you know, it is not easy. Everything that
we have done, we filtered into this platform and (unknown term) is in the background of this
process of prescribing.
So this is not coming from a timeline back row, but a community background. So we will go
through our back row. Leanne would have been a personal centre manager, and Leanne started
off in a place that was a Portakabin, and now to passive facility right in the heart of the
community.

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She was filling and applications for the big (unknown term), to associations, public health
agencies to be able to run programs that were going to make a difference in people's lives.
She had a team of people working there, healthcare communities, people with health care
qualifications. It was an amazing facility from there. I think she was bringing in an annual
amount of 500,000 per year for helping people.
A lot of people were sending people her way, a lot of referrals will be made from GPs, there
were challenges that were going to be very much there.
And helping communities to access digital, so helping people to use email, Skype, things like
that. So it was about getting this funding, build a community sentence. Every can find a corner
where people can come and get a tutor from the local or regional College and get 20 laptops.
What we were trying to do is help a community centre, and say here the awards, tea, coffee,
and hopefully there would be more money. So it is about having a sustainable enterprise and
employability, and we had to walk through there in 2013 and this is where we have a cultural
walk of the study of Derry. And this happened and the grassroots of the communities, so we
have always had this background in terms of the community.
We did not realise that what we were both join the social prescribing. We were talking about
was five years ago, but we thought it would be great if you could connect up together and
connect up the resources from London, the GP surgery, the people, and we thought there must
be a way of doing it digitally and people were saying that we could try and find this out from
people. There were so many different people within our community development principles at
the core, so we thought let's talk to people and see what the key stakeholders are saying.
And Leanne can talk to you about that process.
LEANNE:
Hi, everyone. Just as Jennifer was saying, we talked to over 1000 people who were involved.
But before we were saying about the digital platform, we knew and ourselves that this would
make a difference but we wanted to get everyone involved. Before developing a platform, we
spoke to 750 stakeholders, healthcare professionals, GPs, practice nurses, OGs, social workers
and the main problems they were saying, 'Yes, we would like to use social prescribing and
healthcare. But the main thing is we don't have time and healthcare community said if there was
an area that can show this really quickly and easily' and sometimes that they would turn around
and say that sometimes there was this step in the process, but if there was a platform that could
fill this that would be really great.
So getting a 10 min appointment with a GP, for example, the people were in such isolation,
there was no feedback, but did not even know that they would have contact with other
professionals, so we need the feedback mechanism on the platform. What we learnt by talking
to the community involved, large providers, small preventers, healthcare providers, or and
people were saying that we need to improve value for money to give us extra kudos, so it is not
just about the attendance registers, or will the bums on seats, we want action make a difference

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in people's lives.
We want to have the evidence and go back to the commissioners. And we spoke with a lot of
patients, residents in the community as well, and research were saying that we needed a lot of
analytics to show the commission.
What the patients were saying, the idea of a platform and has been better connected but the
community, they should not be a (inaudible) force. The platform should only enhance and make
social prescribing is part of the game.
When we looked at everything together, we were seen all these problems, the lack of an
integrated system, the social prescribing levels were dipping. Could you go onto the next slide,
Jennifer?
After talking to 750 people, there was confidence in the platform of what we needed to do and
look at a social prescribing model of care.
We like to keep things simple, so it is about playing the model, so you have the link to your
healthcare professional, and then you have an option for the type of professional, so a GP, and
health care nurse, so they have their own sign-in details, and they can express this in under 60
seconds.
And the residents have access to the program, and their own dashboard. An impatience at their
own dashboard, and they can seek what is on offer.
This is not just about the commission groups, it is about everyone supporting this, we need to
work with local authorities, commissioning groups, the manager, all sectors and partners right
across and to highlight to you as a key project, we have them working on a great project in the
north-west of England in partnership with TPG and bringing in the social prescribing model of
care.
In Northern Ireland, we are working with the Centre Alliance, a large alliance across the whole
country, and they are using the platform as a software of choice. Every resident within the
centres will be offered a prescription.
A lot of people go through these on a monthly basis, and we are on target for the end of the
year. That is just some of the stuff we are working on.
Jennifer, I will hand back over.
SPEAKER:
In terms of the future, it is all about making this as easy as possible in terms of social
prescribing, so to do that, it has to be really easy for GPs. We recognise that it doesn't always
have to come from the GPs, and that is where we are delighted that some of the housing
organisations will be making their own referrals. One of the housing workers may be able to say,
"What are you interested in?" They will be able to sit with the person in whatever program they
are doing. That is really keeping us afloat, and we are delighted that we're trying to alleviate the
pressure on GPs.

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We also know that we need to integrate into the GP system, and we should have an
announcement pretty soon about that. We also realise that, while it is great getting the health
journeys, and we can see where the person has started on the baseline, you can measure
anything, be it social isolation, diabetic risk, and you can see that journey and that person that is
risk reducing, and also, we understand where that risk can be alleviated.
The reporting modules… We recognise that the social prescribers were telling us that if
someone drops out of two weeks, how do I know? I want to be able to look as a cohort can see
the people who are dropping out, and we want to do something about it. We want to understand
why they dropped out of the program, so there is a module that we have built into the system.
This means that people can get straight on the phone and find out what is going on in people's
lives, finding out if there is something else they want to do. Maybe it was too much to start off
with a spin class. Maybe they want to start with a walking class. It is really flexible.
We also want to create an app version so people can keep track. This is what people have
requested. They want push notifications. It is all about continuing the mission because we are
all on this mission together. We cannot do it alone.
Well, we could, but it wouldn't be as effective. We want to work with as many people as possible
to do this, and yes, come and chat to us and see if we can find out more about your programs.
SPEAKER:
OK, thanks for that. That was really, really helpful, and Jenny, I would like to pick up on that last
bit which is about how we can't do it on our own. It wouldn't be effective. We are all building the
social prescribing movement together. We all need each other, everyone from different
perspectives, whether they are paid or unpaid, we are all leaders, and we all need to build this,
and I have put a message up saying, "By the way, we are not stopping until social prescribing is
everywhere." We know this works.
Right now, the social prescribing team is just me, but we are (inaudible)
Can anybody hear me?
SPEAKER:
Yes, we can hear you.
SPEAKER:
Sorry about that.
The social prescribing team is just me. On Monday, there will be a few vacancies, one for a
development manager to lead the, evaluation framework. We are committed to building a
common framework measuring the impact of social prescribing.
My hunch around commissioners is that they want to hear the things that server is talking about,
reductions in GP and A&E attendance, and this has made a big impact on people's lives. We
want to build resilient communities, and this has to be part of the mix.

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This is broader than health. This is about changing the relationship with the individual and
services so that people are partners, not just passive recipients.
On the slide, I have got a statement from our next steps document. We want to work
collaboratively with the voluntary sector and primary care, building a systematic and equitable
approach, so we want to spread social prescribing across all practices as quickly as it is
practical to do so. That is our aim, and that is what we are working towards.
This is not just about general practice. This is about housing associations, social care, we are all
part of this. We can all refer and connect people in.
I have one or two last slides. Janet, can they move on, please?
OK. The Department of Health prescribing fund which is only 5 million is open now. It closes on
21 November, and it is aimed at organisations that want to build the services that Sarah talked
about, and the funding… It is a three-year program, but the way that it will work, 100% funding
in year one, but you need partnerships with CCGs local partners so they agreed to pick up 50%
of the funding in year two and 80% of the funding in year three, so that we build sustainable
programs. We don't just want to come to the end of the program and say, "Who is going to find
this?"
Can I move on, Janet? This is my last slide?
OK, yes. There are original prescribing networks across the country. The next meeting is in
Liverpool on 28 September. This is full, but we are looking at other events around the country.
We are working with SDPs.
Here is a statistic. 75% of the SDPs have identified that they want to do social prescribing. Of
the six that haven't mentioned them in the plans, I know that at least four of them are working on
social prescribing because I have been talking to them.
We have got all the transformation plans area looking at social prescribing in one way or
another. We would need to build the link work and model that connects services, because it is
about taking the pressure off the NHS, giving people time, making people feel that they are
important and that what they think matters, and enabling them to build the support that they
need, just as Sarah has explained.
Janet, is there one more slide? I think I might be one that connects people… Yes, said all that.
Don't worry. Next slide.
OK, if you want to join the network, social prescribing is growing all the time. This is an email
address, but you will get a monthly newsletter that will give you lots of events and things, and
let's build a together.
Janet, do we have time to check in with twitter or questions? We have 5 minutes, I think.
SPEAKER:
Yes, we can take it forward in terms of the chat room. Over to you, Leigh.

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SPEAKER:
Sorry, I had to unmute myself. There has been some really interesting conversation, so thank
you. People are interested to hear what is possible and what is working, keenly observing all of
the really interesting information, so thank you very much.
SPEAKER:
Thanks. I wonder if we could bring in the other panellists as well and really talk about last
thoughts on the subject. In the chat room, it seems there is a lot of conversation around how we
can get more funding available, and working better across the sector, and with a system to
make this much more sustainable. W would love to people's views on that.
SPEAKER:
I work for…
SPEAKER:
Debbie, go for it.
SPEAKER:
I work for creative minds, a charity hosted by an NHS trust, and we look at creative approaches.
We fund projects, and it is looking at what people are good at, what can you do, what gives you
live, what gives you happiness and joy? We are trying to spread the word and make it so more
people can look at different ways of supporting social prescribing in getting the message out
there. If it is in other areas, absolutely fantastic.
I was at an event yesterday with lots of other areas doing very much the same thing. I think we
need to link up better. That is my final viewpoint.
SPEAKER:
Thank you. Anyone else? Any other panellists?
SPEAKER:
Yes, could I make a comment? This is Sarah.
SPEAKER:
Go for it.
SPEAKER:
I was thinking along the same lines, as Debs just said, and it was the point I was emphasising in
my talk about the fact that it is happening in a locality, it needs to be joined up.
It is hard to do it, but you need to get everybody on board so that everything is consistent from
the messages about what the service really is and what is going on locally, right through to how
people access it locally.
Often, when we start these services, we join up with people we work well with, and we know we
can deliver things together with, but there is something really important about viewing the
locality as a whole, and getting everyone on board as as soon as possible.

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SPEAKER:
OK, thank you for that. That is really, really helpful.
I am committed to working with anyone who will talk to me. I am at Expo next Monday/Tuesday.
There will be a social prescribing stand in the primary care and, so, talk to us. I think we should
do more of these. I am committed to try and answer everyone's questions, and I will come back
to you, and I want to say a real thank you to Janet, Paul and everyone for making this happen.
Thank you, everybody.
SPEAKER:
Thank you, everyone. Take care.
SPEAKER:
Thank you for inviting us.
SPEAKER:
Take care, goodbye.
SPEAKER:
Goodbye.
PAUL WOODLEY:
If anybody is interested, the chat has been recorded and we'll post it on the event page once it's
ready.
(Captions off)