Social prescribing involves the referral of patients to non-medical activities, ranging from health and fitness programs to movie clubs and meditation. Social prescribing can help to address the social determinants of health, such as low education and income, which can affect people’s health and wellbeing. It has become particularly important given rising rates of chronic illness, mental health issues, social isolation and loneliness, many of which cannot be treated effectively with a medical approach alone. It can help shift the balance of care to focus on prevention and early intervention for patients, rather than dealing with later-stage symptoms and complications.
Social prescribing is used successfully in many European countries, such as in the United Kingdom, and in 2020 there were promising trials in Australia, Canada and Singapore.
Social prescribing offers a huge opportunity to improve patient health and wellbeing and cut the costs of chronic disease, but it won’t happen unless everyone can access it.
Health expenditure also shows that healthcare has increasingly shifted to expensive hospital settings. As our population ages and we see rising rates of obesity and chronic disease, the demand for such acute services will only increase if we continue on this same trajectory. We need to find more effective ways to keep people out of hospital in order for our health system to remain stable.