Birmingham and Solihull ICB rollout digital social prescribing
Access Elemental platform aims to provide faster access for patients and meet rising demand for primary care and mental health support across region.
‘Social prescribing’, is a means of improving the health and well-being of patients by directing them to local groups, services and activities that can meet their specific practical, emotional and social needs. It plays an increasingly important role in the delivery of universal personalised care.
Photo by Sarah Doffman
Yet providing such services to a large, diverse population is a significant challenge. For example, Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB) serves more than 1.6m citizens over six localities, 38 primary care networks (PCNs) and 182 GP practices.
To better provide timely, consistent care and support to people who need it, the ICB is in the process of implementing social prescribing platform Access Elemental, which went live for GP practices across the ICB’s east locality in June and should be available to all stakeholders there later this month.
Access Elemental Social Prescribing is the UK’s leading software for such digital prescribing services, widely used by a range of PCNs, ICBs, local authorities, education institutions, prisons, housing organisations, and community, voluntary and faith-based sector organisations. The intention is to use the platform to reduce health inequalities across the ICB by connecting health, housing, local government and the voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) sector. The platform integrates seamlessly with clinical and third-party software, which means that staff can collaborate within multidisciplinary teams to create personalised social prescriptions tailored to the unique needs of their service users (or patients).
Through the platform, service users are directed to local programmes and services that aim to meet their particular needs and so enhance their health and well-being. That might include exercise classes, housing and financial support, mental health support or employment and skills development.
More than 350,000 users have actively engaged with and accessed social prescribing services through the platform, which has facilitated more than 2m contacts between patients and social prescribing ‘link workers’. There have been more than 400,000 referrals to community activities.
Through the platform, staff can track and measure the real-time effectiveness of their social prescribing interventions. Comprehensive tools manage referrals, monitor patient outcomes and strengthen the connection between healthcare providers and community services, driving proactive and personalised care delivery.
Stephen O’Halloran, Business Manager at Birmingham East Central PCN, says: ‘We operate in an ethnically and culturally diverse patient population, and as an ICB, we have struggled to manage the socio-economic pressures that our patients face. Using digital social prescribing means we have a consistent referral and communication pathway across the ICB. We now have a robust and user-friendly platform to collaborate with colleagues, engage with patients, our regional leads, and the wider community. And the related analytics will help us report on the success of the projects and build ‘use cases’ as we move forward.’
Jennifer Neff, Co-Founder of Access Elemental Social Prescribing, adds: ‘With social prescribing currently being run differently across PCNs and ICBs, investing in digital helps those responsible for services to collaborate better, reduce health inequalities and improve community health and wellbeing. Social prescribing isn’t always seen as the top funding priority, yet it significantly eases primary care pressures. Partnerships like the one with Birmingham and Solihull showcases effective support for both physical and mental health in primary care.’
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