Agenda item

To provide an update one year on from the report of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Task Group on Social Prescribing in Brent and the Cabinet and Brent Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) response to those recommendations.

Dr Melanie Smith (Director of Public Health, Brent Council) introduced the report, which was an update on progress on the recommendations made by the Committee a year ago in the Social Prescribing Task Group report. She highlighted that the report was themed around governance arrangements, where she felt a lot of progress had been made, access to social prescribing, where she felt some progress had been made, and the social prescribing offer, where she felt least progress had been made.

The Chair thanked Dr Melanie Smith for her introduction and invited comments and questions from those present. The following points were raised:

The Committee highlighted examples of patients waiting a long time, sometimes between 8 weeks to 3 months, before they were contacted by a social prescriber, and asked how that issue could be progressed. Dr Melanie Smith advised members that the existing Primary Care Network of Social Prescribers was delivered and directed through the Primary Care Network, and Public Health felt there was the potential for the system to work more efficiently in that space. Social Prescribers within primary care had been largely set up in response to pressures on GPs to alleviate demand, meaning social prescribers were now being asked to do things they had not necessarily set up to do, so Social Prescribers may not necessarily have all of the context and skills needed in order to do that. In response to that, a community of practice was being developed to share good practice, and Public Health was seeking to work across the system to increase efficiency and ensure there were better links between different parts of the system.

In relation to the information in the report, the Committee asked how that was obtained. They were advised that officers were getting data directly from GP staff after approaching Primary Care Networks (PCNs) for the data.

The Committee asked where the main challenges were in progressing social prescribing and how that was being mitigated, as well as how Brent Council was facilitating the process to make better health outcomes. Dr Melanie Smith advised that the current provision of social prescribing was an NHS service, and the task group report had recommended that the social prescribing service should be more widely available. The Council had no direct jurisdiction over PCNs but was seeking to work with them and influence them to improve social prescribing in the borough, particularly around how social prescribers related to Council services. For example, there had been a lot of work done to improve referral routes between social prescribers and Adult Social Care and social prescribers and housing which social prescribers had recognised as beneficial.  The Council was also piloting social prescribing principles within Adult Social Care using holistic assessments, signposting and directing to other services. The Council was quite advanced with its implementation of social prescribing principles in Adult Social Care and had an agreed role that was currently going through the HR recruitment process. There were prospects for significant progress in this area over the next 12 months, but Public Health did not foresee an offer where residents would receive the exact same offer in  Adult Social Care as they would in primary care because there would always be slight differences between the Council and NHS.

As no further points were raised, the Chair drew the item to a close.