More 'social prescribers' to ease pressure on GPs

More 'social prescribers' to ease pressure on GPs The number of workers trained to prescribe social activities, like exercise groups and art classes, to GP patients who don't need pills, is set to rise, under NHS England plans. The aim is that "link workers" will support GPs and reduce their workload.

A link worker's role is to help patients find suitable community activities to improve their health and wellbeing. The NHS says more than 1,000 will be recruited by 2020-21. In the long term, it wants link workers to handle around 900,000 patient appointments a year. BBC News - Health

See Also:

• Improving UK cycling rates could save NHS £319m, says report The Guardian
• NHS to recruit army of workers to help loneliness and mental illness The Telegraph
• NHS hires hundreds of ‘social prescribers’ to refer patients to art classes and dancing lessons Mail Online