Experiences of social prescribing in Buckinghamshire

Healthwatch Buckinghamshire wanted to understand people’s experiences of social prescribing in Buckinghamshire.  They developed a short survey and ran interviews.  Altogether they spoke to 47 people and 5 social prescribers.

Most of respondents said they were happy or very happy about being referred to a social prescriber. Most said they had a positive impression following their use of the social prescribing service.

Almost all of the respondents said meeting with / talking to the social prescriber was helpful. People appreciated the time social prescribers had to listen to them and to provide practical and cognitive support. The support included giving people new coping mechanisms and signposting them to other organisations. Over half of respondents said they were now involved with these new groups.

There were, however, issues which had stopped people getting more support after talking with a social prescriber. The ones highlighted included access to affordable / accessible transport, a lack of provision in certain localities and waiting lists for particular services.

Nearly nine in ten said their health and / or wellbeing had improved because of the new activities or organisations they had become involved with. People explained the improvements to their mental health and feeling more confident and more socially engaged. Several said that their family members now felt better supported after a social prescriber became involved.

Several people felt the social prescribing service should be better publicised.

The report contains eight recommendations about transport, identifying more support groups, supplementing the support currently provided to people to claim certain benefits and publicising social prescribing.