What is the Rotherham Social Prescribing Service?

The Rotherham Social Prescribing Service helps adults over the age of 18 with long-term health conditions and mental health issues improve their health and wellbeing by helping them to access community activities and services. More recently, the service has expanded to include Social Prescribers within the Long COVID Assessment Service (LCAS) and Rotherham District General Hospital’s Urgent & Emergency Care Centre (UECC). Our Social Prescribers are known as Social Prescribers or VCS Advisors.

Social Prescribing is part of a wider multi-agency approach to care planning in Rotherham for targeted patients living in the community. Referrals to the service must come from health professionals in Rotherham GP practices, Community Mental Health Teams, the Long COVID Assessment Service or the Urgent & Emergency Care Centre. Health professionals initially identify patients before making a referral to the service for a social prescription.

The main aim of Social Prescribing is to help people become more connected, resilient and able to self-care. People accessing the service are more likely to continue living at home independently and become less dependent on statutory health and social care services.

The service operates in partnership with health and care teams. The teams plan integrated and pre-emptive care for people living in the community who are at high risk of:

• Unplanned hospital admissions

• Presenting at accident and emergency

• Dependency on mental health services

• Worsening physical and psychological health

• Going into residential care prematurely

The multi-agency (integrated) approach enables our team of Social Prescribers to work alongside health and care professionals to address the combined clinical, care and wider social needs of people referred to the service.

Social Prescribers are not medically trained and are not Social Workers. Their role is to address non-clinical issues by helping people to access voluntary and community activities and services. Social Prescribers assess individual needs, typically offering people a variety of practical, social and emotional support, written into an agreed support plan for each service user. 

Practical support may include services such as advocacy, respite for carers or help with welfare benefits advice; social support may include befrienders taking people to social groups; emotional support may include counselling or bereavement support groups. Social Prescribers advise health and care professionals when people need clinical or social care support at home to help maintain their independence.

To improve the availability of support available in Rotherham, the service provides funding to local voluntary and community organisations. These organisations provide a range of community based services to meet people’s non-clinical needs. All organisations funded through the service offer short-term services that encourage people to grow in confidence and become more independent. The funded services also remove barriers to social inclusion, facilitating better health, wellbeing and happiness.

The Rotherham Social Prescribing Service is commissioned and funded by NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.