The week’s Connecting Conversations looks at personal value – not in terms of wealth, but how much you feel like you matter within your family and wider community.
Connecting Conversations – Dr Marie-Anne Essam offers her essential advice for Primary Care clinicians
Hertfordshire GP Dr Marie-Anne Essam reflects on the things she’s learned during a long and illustrious career in healthcare – and how clinicians should approach social prescribing…
Connecting Conversations: Julia Bradbury on healthy hacks for a longer life
Television personality and author Julia Bradbury explains her techniques – from saunas to spending time outdoors – for better health.
Debs Teale: After enduring decades of debilitating mental health, one social prescribing art class changed my health – and life – forever
Writing for the Social Prescribing Network’s Connecting Conversations blog, social prescribing advocate Debs Teale, who lives in North Yorkshire, reveals how just one creative session put her life on a new path…
What it’s really like to be a link worker on the frontline
Claire Walker is a Social Prescriber Link Worker for Billingham and Norton PCN in England’s north-east. Here, she shares what her day-to-day role looks like and how she hopes social prescribing can evolve in the future…
Exposure to nature is vital for healthy, happy children, says new book endorsed by Dr William Bird
We need to prioritise the bond between children and nature, argues educator Caroline Essame in her book: Why Nature Matters…
IPM Congress 2026: Inspiring, informative and over too soon!
This year’s IPM Congress saw an illustrious list of speakers take to the stage at Westminster’s QEII Centre…
Deepak Ravindran: Why Social Prescribing Might Be the Most Under-Rated Pain Treatment We Have
The latest Connecting Conversations blog from the Social Prescribing Network sees Dr Deepak Ravindran discussing pain management…
From movement to meaning: Why social prescribing still matters by Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi
Social Prescribing Day 2026 is almost upon us. Here, as part of the Social Prescribing Network’s Connecting Conversations series, Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi, aka @irondoctorhaz, explains why social prescribing is more important than ever…
Five minutes with: April Siwon Lee, a Technical Officer at the World Health Organization (WHO)
The latest post from the Social Prescribing Network sees Chair Sian Brand chatting to Technical Officer April, who’s based at the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific…
New Year, stronger bones: Dr George Ampat on exercises you can do at home
Dr George Ampat, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Royal Liverpool University Hospitals, is a firm believer that many surgeries relating to the spine, feet and other musculoskeletal problems can be avoided. Indeed, after years of surgical practice, Dr Ampat now specialises…
Five minutes with: Professor Daisy Fancourt
The latest instalment of the Social Prescribing Network‘s Connecting Conversations series sees SPN Chair Sian Brand interviewing Professor Daisy Fancourt, Professor of Psychobiology & Epidemiology and Head of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at University College London. Professor Fancourt stands…
Five minutes with: Alyson McGregor MBE
In the latest Social Prescribing Network‘s Connecting Conversations series, Chair Sian Brand sits down with Alyson McGregor MBE, founder and National Director of Altogether Better, an NHS national network organisation that pioneers Collaborative Practice to transform the relationship between citizens and services.…
“I want to do it for the rest of my life”: One woman’s journey with open water swimming and mental health
Mehbooba, who suffers with depression, shares how swimming has helped ease her Fibromyalgia symptoms and also discusses the community of friends she has met with whom she swims all year round…
Five minutes with: Dr Liam Loftus
Dr Liam Loftus is a trained GP, Development Director at Cambridge City Foodbank and Associate Director of Policy and Practice Engagement at the Health Equity Evidence Centre. Here, we asked him to tell us about what living well means to…
Looking bright! The College of Medicine’s Future Health Leaders meet at Windsor Castle
Earlier this year, our Future Health Leaders met at Windsor Castle for a two-day meeting designed to equip them with essential skills, insights and connections to shape the future of healthcare. This two-day event was the culmination of a leadership…
Protected: Introducing Roots Health Academy for Business
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The Somerset community cafe that’s helping to fight loneliness
Sarah Stacey meets the founders of a not-for-profit cafe in Frome, Somerset, which was set up in 2023 to build a stronger community – and alleviate loneliness and isolation… When a trio of excited volunteers opened the doors of Victoria…
Introducing our Future Health Leaders
The Future Health Leaders Programme is a transformative initiative designed to cultivate the next generation of healthcare leaders. It aims to equip participants with the essential knowledge, skills, and innovative mindset necessary to navigate and reshape the evolving healthcare landscape.…
College of Medicine launches ‘blueprint to fight food poverty’ in three UK cities
The College of Medicine is driving a project in communities across the UK to tackle food poverty. This week sees the re-launch of the ‘Eatwell Community’ model, once part of the National Food Strategy, in three UK towns and cities;…
Why a North London social prescribing group – ‘Make and Mend’ – is about so much more than sewing
A free sewing group started during lockdown that teaches tailoring skills to women has flourished – with some ‘graduates’ from the programme starting their own businesses. Poornima Kirloskar-Saini founded Kundakala, which encourages women to become ‘more social, confident and financially…
Alzheimer’s patient says her symptoms have ‘reversed’ following intensive lifestyle changes
A patient diagnosed with Alzheimer’s claims making significant changes to her lifestyle as part of a clinical trial has had a dramatic effect on her symptoms. Speaking on new CNN documentary ‘The Last Alzheimer’s Patient’, US woman Cici Zerbe said…
BEYOND PILLS CAMPAIGN Boxing clever: How one grassroots organisation is helping everyone from cancer patients to those struggling with prescribed drug dependency
The combined power of community and sport to improve people’s health and well-being is increasingly being hailed as an effective way of releasing pressure on the NHS – and a grassroots organisation in England’s north east is offering up a…
BEYOND PILLS CAMPAIGN: How the South West’s pain cafes are helping chronic pain sufferers – without drugs
Our latest Beyond Pills Campaign article looks at how an initiative in the South West is helping chronic pain sufferers find respite using a range of different strategies… Instead of reaching for a bottle of painkillers, chronic pain sufferers in…
Walk yourself happy: How nature helped TV presenter Julia Bradbury’s recovery from cancer
Getting outside, into nature offers so much for the mind, body and soul – it can boost your immune system, lift your spirits and speed up your recovery. It’s not a new phenomenon – the healing power of nature has…