Kerryn Husk, previously of ECEHH and now at Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry PenCLAHRC, has written a blog about our Social Prescribing review for the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

In the blog Kerryn argues that despite the increasing interest in the use of Social Prescribing (also known as community referral) “the evidence base… currently lags considerably behind practice”.

He suggests that, in addition to knowing whether or not the activities that people are referred to are effective, we also need to know far more about the process of Social Prescribing. The process of social prescribing is the pathway which takes the patient out of the primary care setting and into the community:

“Greater attention should be paid to the elements of the process that allow individualisation and responsiveness to the needs of different groups of patients and providers. We also need to understand how we can maximise uptake and adherence and engage those who may benefit most.”

You can read the blog on the BMJ Opinion site and the review protocol can be found here.