ESTATE UTILISATION
Highlighting the value of social prescribing hubs
Alasdair Ben Dixon, a chartered architect and Partner at architecture and design practice, Collective Works, discusses the firm’s recent work with local organisations to design and create social prescribing hubs that give patients more agency in their own health outcomes – by making clear the activities which can most benefit their wellbeing. He explains that ‘by addressing the root causes of ill health, and enhancing overall wellbeing, social prescribing has emerged as a powerful tool in the healthcare landscape’.
NHS Property Services is celebrating the delivery of 100 social prescribing sites to its partners across the country. One of the final projects to be completed, Ashfield Community Hub in Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, opened in July 2024, and now provides an accessible space for community groups and social prescribing link workers designed with their specific needs in mind. Between 2019 and 2024, NHS Property Services
has delivered a 100-site pilot scheme for Social Prescribing. Social prescribing helps support GPs, who use approximately 20% of their time tackling social issues which could be addressed directly by local community services. This connection can also give patients more agency in their own health outcomes – by making clear the activities which can most benefit their wellbeing.
Non-clinical routes to treatment Social prescribing aims to provide non-clinical routes to treatment for people with a range of social or health issues, giving them more choice and freedom to receive the support they need. Patients with multiple, complex needs can be referred by their GP to services within their local community, where their needs can be assessed, and appropriate groups, activities, and access to support services, recommended. By addressing the root causes of ill health, and enhancing overall wellbeing, social prescribing has emerged as a powerful tool in the healthcare landscape, and ultimately will take pressure off overstretched GPs and the emergency services. NHS Property Services owns and manages 10% of
the NHS England estate, which includes many vacant, underused, or run-down spaces that have suffered from lack of investment or footfall. The social prescribing pilot scheme has brought many of these spaces back into use, and includes places to access support services, or places where activities are run and groups can meet. The spaces are often connected to existing NHS services – like the Flourish Wellbeing Hub at Victoria Infirmary in Northwich, Cheshire, or health centres and GP surgeries, like Ashfield Social Prescribing Hub or Wellington Way Community Garden at the Wellington Way Health Centre in East London.
n Ashfield Community Hub Ashfield Community Hub repurposes a disused canteen within the Ashfield Health Centre in Kirkby in Ashfield, with the ambition of creating a welcoming space, that is ‘absolutely non-clinical’, to be used by local groups, and serve people from across Mid Nottinghamshire to support their social wellbeing. Mid-Nottinghamshire Place Team, which manages Ashfield Community Hub, works with
its partners – Ashfield District Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Third Sector organisations, and others – to work toward delivering schemes focussed on integrated working, reducing health inequalities, and ensuring that communities receive the best health and social care. Patients are referred to the team of social prescribing link
workers to identify needs, and create a pathway towards a positive outcome. Nicki Glencross, Service Transformation officer in the Mid Notts Place Team within NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, explains: “Loneliness is a good example where a social problem can lead to a health issue. If someone becomes lonely, they may lack confidence to leave their home and, as a result, become frailer, leading to health issues. The social prescribing link workers might identify that a patient’s health outcomes would be greatly improved if their loneliness was addressed. We could introduce them to a suitable group – perhaps a walking group, a craft group, or a chess group – through which they might be able to build friendships and re-establish their place in a community.” The team works from a variety of locations – for instance in patients’ homes, in leisure centres, and cafés. People
October 2024 Health Estate Journal 51
Ashfield Community Hub repurposes a disused canteen within the Ashfield Health Centre in Kirkby in Ashfield, with the ambition of creating a welcoming space, that is ‘absolutely non-clinical’.
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