In Spring 2021 we began work on the evaluation of the Government’s flagship Green Social Prescribing test and learn pilots programme. The interim report, submitted to Defra in January 2023, has been published. The final report will be published later in 2023.

We produced:

• GSP Evaluation Interim Report – Briefing
• GSP Evaluation Interim Report – Summary
• GSP Evaluation Interim Report – Main Report
• GSP Evaluation Interim Report – Main Report Appendices

Background to the evaluation of the Preventing and Tackling Mental Ill Health through Green Social Prescribing Project

Working with researchers at The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, and the University of Plymouth we have undertaken an evaluation across seven test and learn sites targeting communities in England hardest hit by COVID-19. The aim was to help the sites understand how, and in what ways, their activities can build the system around green social prescribing and successfully connect people with nature to improve mental health and wellbeing.

The government invested over £5.5m to better understand how nature can be used to improve mental health and wellbeing. Seven pilots were selected:

• Humber Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership
• South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Integrated Care System
• Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System
• Joined Up Care Derbyshire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership
• Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership
• Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership
• Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership

We have been working towards an understanding of how green social prescribing could be scaled up and embedded into practice effectively.

Taking a whole systems approach, our objectives were:

• Objective 1: To work collaboratively with national, regional, and local partners and stakeholders to undertake scoping and further development of the evaluation design following contract award
• Objective 2: To undertake in-depth evaluation in the seven local test and learn sites throughout the two years of delivery
• Objective 3: To undertake lighter-touch evaluation of green social prescribing in a wider range of locations outside the funded test and learn sites
• Objective 4: To improve understanding of the challenges and opportunities in delivering and scaling up green social prescribing to aid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic
• Objective 5: To provide a range of opportunities to share learning and good practice across the seven local test and learn sites and other locations, and with the national partnership
• Objective 6: To contribute to the development of tools and resources to support wider rollout of green social prescribing, based on the findings of the evaluation
• Objective 7: To identify key learning about the national partnership
• Objective 8: To provide high quality evaluation reports and other outputs to communicate findings to policy and delivery partners and wider audiences

The evaluation of the test and learn pilots was funded for a total of £887,413 from HMT’s Shared Outcomes Fund, a fund announced by HM Treasury to pilot innovative ways of working that will improve collaboration on priority policy areas that sit across, and are delivered by, multiple public sector organisations to improve outcomes and deliver better value for citizens. The evaluation contract was awarded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and will be supported by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Natural England, NHS England, Public Health England (now OHID), Sport England, the National Academy of Social Prescribing (NASP), and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).