New funding and support programme for London’s Social Prescribing Innovators
- Healthy London Partnership is launching a new pilot programme to support London’s Social Prescribing Link Workers to improve the delivery of social prescribing services in primary care.
- Successful applicants will receive up to £10,000 in grant funding and six months of dedicated support to tackle a challenge they face through the delivery of a specific social prescribing project.
- Applications opened on 22 June 2022 and closed on 20 July 2022 – 12 projects across London have been successful and will make up the first cohort of SP Innovators.
Twelve projects from across London will make up the first cohort of Healthy London Partnership’s new Social Prescribing Innovators Programme, which was set up in the Summer to support SP services to tackle some of the biggest health inequalities challenges Londoners face.
The successful applicants, as judged by some of London’s most expert social prescribing professionals, academics, and clinicians, will be supported to deliver a specific project targeting a particular implementation issue, for six months from October 2022. This will include QI training, coaching and support, as well as up to £10,000 in grant funding for each project.
Dr Jagan John, Clinical Director for Personalised Care in London, and Chair of the North East London Clinical Commissioning Group says the programme will unleash powerful ideas from London’s vibrant social prescribing workforce to help overcome some of the implementation challenges of expanding delivery into London’s primary care networks.
“Social prescribing link workers, when based as part of the multi-disciplinary team in primary care networks, can really tackle the health inequalities many Londoners face. Yet time and again we hear how difficult it is to recruit and retain people with the right skills, set up hubs in the right locations, or link to appropriate services in communities outside the health service. This programme will give talented individuals and teams the opportunity to have the support they need to test out new ideas for making sure we can rollout social prescribing right across London, taking a holistic approach to even more people’s health and wellbeing while easing the pressure on the NHS.”
The results of the pilot programme will be shared in March next year. The innovative solutions developed by those who take part in the programme will be shared with all those interested in mainstreaming social prescribing across London’s primary care services and beyond.
To find out more, including a programme brochure and information about the projects teams, visit our Personalised Care project page.