Implementing Social Prescribing Schemes: Learning from Practice

Social prescribing is a complex and personalised approach to supporting people with clinical and non-clinical issues, using primarily non-clinical and VCFSE activities. Many social prescribing schemes have been implemented in the UK and Ireland and are now being implemented in countries internationally. This chapter explores the research and evaluation that have been carried out at a practical level to ascertain the outcomes and learning from implementing social prescribing schemes. The chapter also explores relevant theoretical contexts, e.g. Normalisation Process Theory and Critical Systems Thinking, which can also underpin good practice in the implementation of social prescribing schemes. Finally, this chapter reviews what needs to be considered when deciding how to monitor and measure impact and goes on to summarise the barriers and enablers of social prescribing implementation across different parts of the pathway.