LiveWire’s Social Prescribing Team prepare to celebrate national awareness day
LiveWire’s Social Prescribing team is preparing to celebrate a national event aimed at raising awareness of the new service that takes a holistic approach to the health and wellbeing of Warrington residents.
Social Prescribers Day 2022 is being held on Thursday 10th March and celebrates the work being done by social prescribers around the country.
Launched last summer, the Social Prescriber service is a first for Warrington, and sees five LiveWire social prescribers funded by Warrington’s Primary Care Networks. The team will be deployed across the town, working across all GP Practices.
Social Prescribing is a key part of the NHS’s plan for universal personalised care – which means giving people the choice and control over their mental and physical health that they have come to expect in every other aspect of their life. The service is open to all adults in Warrington, referral to the service is currently through your GP Practice.
Social Prescribers take a holistic approach to people’s health and wellbeing. They connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support. Link workers also support existing community groups to be accessible and sustainable, and help people to start new groups, working collaboratively with all local partners.
The service aims to help people with a range of topics, including mental health, accessing health and fitness opportunities, isolation and general wellbeing.
The service works for a wide range of people, including those:
- With one or more long-term conditions
- Who need support with their mental health
- Who are lonely or isolated
- Who have complex social needs which affect their wellbeing.
Locklynne Hall, Health and Wellbeing Director for LiveWire, said: “This fantastic new service is already making a difference to people’s lives and we look forward to helping many more in the months ahead. The team have been busy borough-wide connecting with people, which has led to improved health and wellbeing outcomes. As we celebrate Social Prescribers Day we invite you to please get in touch with your GP surgery to access the Social Prescribing service if you feel it could help make a difference to your life – we are keen to help you.”
GP Dr Laura Mount said: “People present to their GP practices with a range of social issues that are affecting their health. The social prescribing team help patients to deal with these issues improving their health and general wellbeing. This also takes pressure off over stretched services. The Social prescribers have already helped patient with a wide range of issues including housing, IT skills, loneliness and fitness.”
LiveWire has been commissioned to deliver the Social Prescribing Service by the Primary Care Networks for an initial period of 2 years.
In the future, people can be easily referred to link workers from a wide range of local agencies, including GPs, pharmacies, hospital discharge teams, fire service, police, job centres, social care services, housing associations and voluntary, and organisations.
For more information on LiveWire’s Social Prescribing service, and the team, please visit https://livewirewarrington.co.uk/lifestyles/social-prescribing
