Leading voices in integrative medicine have called for a cohesive approach to ensure every aspect of healthcare can be effectively reached by social prescribing.
Writing in Chapter Five of the College of Medicine’s manifesto for better health, Hope for the Future, Dr Marie Polley, Dr James Fleming, Dr Richard Kimberlee, Dr Fiona Butler and Dr Bogdan Chiva Giurca suggest that social prescribing must be “the responsibility of all stakeholder groups to work together at a local level, allowing eco-systems to evolve to meet their local population’s needs and to help deliver asset-based community development.”
The chapter, entitled Making Radical Change, calls for “intelligent and equitable approaches to commissioning and funding the organisations who are providing social prescribing activities.”
It also acknowledges the progress that has already been made with social prescribing, saying it has seen significant success in “addressing entrenched inequalities, changing how communities are nurtured and valued and preventing the rising prevalence of acute presentations and long-term conditions.”
In the ‘Five actions for change’ listed in every chapter of the manifesto, the authors call for a “National Consensus for Teaching Social Prescribing within medical schools and on allied health professional degrees, involving the
General Medical Council and other professional regulatory bodies in ensuring social prescribing becomes a key part of the curriculum”.
MORE ABOUT OUR MANIFESTO
The College of Medicine’s new manifesto, Hope for the Future, is our vision for better healthcare in the next decade.
Published during the uncertain era of a global pandemic, it looks ahead to a world altered by Covid-19 and has been written by some of the most influential names in UK health, including Sir Sam Everington, Sir Stephen Holgate and Dame Donna Kinnair.
Over 15 succinct chapters, those currently working on the frontline of health document their thoughts, experiences and opinions on how we can improve health for everyone. Our Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, a pioneer of social prescribing, describes Hope for the Future as ‘a rallying cry demanding that medicine must step out of the hospital and GP surgery and become part of the community’.
Find out how the College of Medicine plans to redefine medicine over the next ten years by reading the manifesto below. And please do join us in helping to share #Hopeforthefuture across social media platforms.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE MANIFESTO IN FULL…
