Ways to Wellness is a large social prescribing project based in west Newcastle, and aiming to reach 11,000 patients over seven years. 

It encompasses several GP practices in some of the most socially deprived neighbourhoods in the country, and is funded by a Social Impact Bond. The project has also been designed to provide an evidence base for social prescribing, making clear the business case for investing in social prescribing.

Prescribing for Gordon

Gordon is typical of patients who can be helped by social prescribing, with a medical condition exacerbated by social and environmental factors.

Gordon is 70 years old and is living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and diabetes type II. Gordon did not have a good understanding of his condition and had generally poor health due to his lifestyle, so his GP referred him to Ways to Wellness. When he first met Terri, his Link Worker, she observed that he was quite socially isolated as he was estranged from his family who lived abroad and his wife had died four years previously. Six months on, Gordon has joined the Healthy Lungs group and started playing snooker at the local community centre. He meeting friends more often for a coffee and a chat. He has also decided that he is now ready to travel abroad to see his family and may move permanently.

Read more about Ways to Wellness, visit the website here.