The NHS is investing in social prescribing, but we don't yet know how well this is working for people living with dementia. This project is a collaboration between the Institute for Volunteering Research at the University of East Anglia and the NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board to find out more about this.
Background
Throughout England the NHS is introducing social prescribing, because they want to offer better personalised care. Referrals from health care professionals to Social Prescribing Link Workers are already under way. However, for people living with dementia this usually only means dementia friendly activities are provided by volunteers. It does not appear to mean that people living with dementia actually have a chance to volunteer themselves. So our research question was: In practice, how well does social prescribing work for people living with dementia in Norfolk?
Project Aims
We wanted to find out how social prescribing is currently working for people with dementia in Norfolk. Volunteer involvement plays a big role in social prescribing, so we also wanted to find out how this works in practice in Norfolk.
Project Activity
The project mapped the role of volunteering in social prescribing for people living with dementia in Norfolk and Waveney, by comparing available NHS England and NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB ambitions and anonymised patient referral data, with accounts from staff involved in social prescribing.
Anticipated or actual outputs
The project provided immediate insights for NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board planning of social prescribing services. The project also established relationships and baseline data for the NIHR funded project SPLENDID which started in 2022.
Papers/resources
The project report is available on
Who is involved?
- Jurgen Grotz, UEA (corresponding researcher)
- Shanice Thomas, UEA
- Laura Watts, UEA
- Lara Williamson, UEA
- Jane Cross, UEA
- Chris Fox, University of Exeter
- Fiona Poland, UEA
