Bailiwick Social Prescribing, a scheme designed to improve people’s health by linking them with community-based support for non-medical needs has been joined by Queens Road Medical Practice.
This arrangement makes the scheme accessible to people through their GP at all three Guernsey medical practices: Healthcare Group, IslandHealth and Queens Road.
The Health Improvement Commission was recently awarded a grant from the Social Investment Fund to continue Bailiwick Social Prescribing until the end of 2024. This medium-term security made it possible for them to accommodate Queens Road’s interest in joining the scheme.
Following this new partnership, all GPs in Guernsey can refer to the Bailiwick Social Prescribing Link Workers, for support with unmet, non-medical needs such as loneliness, isolation, anxiety, housing needs, financial concerns and changes in circumstance, which can be affecting their health. The Link Workers listen to the clients and find ways to help, often supporting them to attend groups such as art, singing, physical activity or volunteering, helping them to access statutory services, empowering them to discover their strengths and overcome barrier and building their confidence.
Currently the scheme is a pilot and is gathering evidence for its feasibility and impact. Since the scheme launched in summer 2021, the team, based within the Health Improvement Commission, has helped nearly 400 people and have had referrals from 95% of GPs who can refer into the scheme from Island Health and Healthcare.
Link Worker Manager, Trish De Carteret (pictured) is delighted to welcome Queens Road to the scheme: “We are really excited to be working with Queens Road Medical Practice as now we have the opportunity to offer the Bailiwick Social Prescribing scheme to the whole island. We are looking forward to being able to support more people to overcome barriers affecting their health and wellbeing within the supportive and empowering environment of Social Prescribing. Queens Road Medical Practice patients will already be aware of Social Prescribing from the practice’s early adoption of their own scheme and we look forward to offering a seamless transition over to Bailiwick Social Prescribing for their patients.”
Dr Piers Mitchell is the Queens Road Medical Practice Clinical Lead for Social Prescribing, and highlights the island-wide benefit of the scheme: “People’s health is frequently affected by what is going on in their lives. Social, emotional and practical difficulties can result in illness and Social Prescribing helps to address these using a variety of approaches. Building on our previous experience in this area, we are delighted to now be partnering with Bailiwick Social Prescribing, which has laid the foundations for an island-wide scheme of the highest standard. Over the coming years we hope this initiative will help many more of our patients to tackle issues that are directly affecting their health. By complementing the work done in Primary Care we should see better long-term health outcomes across the island.”
People can access Bailiwick Social Prescribing via their GP and via Healthy Minds. More information can be found here.
