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…
Over-prescribing sends 1,000 elderly people a day to A&E, Sunday Times report finds
The newspaper’s investigation found that older people are often seeking help at UK hospitals for side-effects caused by polypharmacy – when a patient is prescribed five drugs or more.
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.
Professor Sir Sam Everington discusses childhood health and school nurses on the Today programme
The College of Medicine’s co-chair appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme earlier this summer to discuss worrying trends in children’s health in the UK.
Watch: Co-chair’s speech from The College of Medicine’s AGM
VIDEO: Watch our co-chair, Sir Michael Dixon, summarising the achievements of The College of Medicine over the past 12 months in footage recorded at our annual general meeting…
‘Health, health, health’: College of Medicine Co-Chair Prof. Sir Sam Everington reveals what he would tell the new PM
In a recent fireside chat with the King’s Population Health Institute Vanguard Series, our co-chair, Professor Sir Sam Everington, reflected on both his own career and the future challenges laid out for those working in heatlhcare…
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…
Breathing programme created by English National Opera eases symptoms for Long Covid patients, study finds
The new research, published in The Lancet, found that the ENO’s Breathe programme delivered clinically measurable improvements for patients diagnosed with the condition.
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…
Connecting Conversations: Professor Marcello Bertotti
The latest contributor to write for the Social Prescribing Network’s blog has made an important contribution to the development of social prescribing evidence in the UK.
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…
Dr Michael Dixon recognised by HM King Charles in birthday honours list
Pride as The College of Medicine’s founder and co-chair becomes a Knight Commander of the RVO.
Register now for our Food on Prescription conference at IPM Congress 2026
From June 18th to June 20th, we’re heading once more to London’s QEII centre for the most inspiring health conference of the year…
Angela Rippon: How dance can be a vital social prescibing tool
The TV personality and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant has long understood the power of dance when it comes to enhancing both mental and physical health – and now she’s spreading the word in every way she can…
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…
Join the Student Council – application date extended!
Know a young healthcare professional looking for a new challenge? Our Student Council could be the perfect opportunity…
A song for success: Breathing associated with singing helps Long Covid and asthma sufferers
An initiative set up by the English National Opera during the pandemic is still going strong six years on…
Dan Hopewell: Social Prescribing, Past, Present and Future
Director of Knowledge and Innovation at Bromley by Bow Health, Dan Hopewell reflects on how far social prescribing has come – and where we’re heading – on the latest Social Prescribing Network blog post…
New survey proves critical need for greater consistency in how CAMs are understood, explained, and recommended across primary care
The Integrated Medicine Alliance, which operates under the wing of The College of Medicine recently commissioned a nationally representative survey to assess how sentiment and the use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) amongst UK adults are shifting. We believe that…
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…
Beyond the Clinic: Building Health through community in primary care
The latest article in the Connecting Conversations series from the Social Prescribing Network sees MP Dr Simon Opher as guest blogger. Simon is a member of the College of Medicine, and chairs the Beyond Pills All Parliamentary Party Group (APPG) and the Creative Health APPG,…
International Social Prescribing Day 2026 – get involved!
Social Prescribing Day is an annual celebration of all things social prescribing, recognising local community groups and projects which are helping to make a difference to our physical and mental well-being. Since 2019, thousands of local, national and international organisations,…
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…