FamiliarGround

We have designed an evidence based service to help reduce social isolation in Barking and Dagenham. It helps GP's and frontline staff across the health and social care system provide social prescriptions for people at risk of or currently suffering from social isolation.

24,000 people currently suffer from social isolation in Barking & Dagenham (based on the national average).

People tend to start experiencing social isolation after certain life events such as:

• Pregnancy
• Divorce
• Retiring
• Death of partner
• Reduction in mobility
• Leaving hospital
• Lack of economic resources
• Lack of access to technology

One important way we can address this problem is through the NHS using GP's and community services as a way to pick up early on these life events and suggest social interventions that can help avert a spiral into isolation before it starts.

In 2017 250 people recieved a social prescription for social isolation from GP practices in Barking and Dagenham. This is a tiny proportion of the roughly 24,000 estimated to suffer from social isolation in the borough.

One of the key blockers to GP's using social prescribing more is lack of information about available services.

In a GP Online survey from 2017, 40% of GP's said they would refer more if they had more information about available services.

Other key challenges to social prescribing:

According to a 2017 survey of 560 GPs, the key barriers to using social prescribing more are:

• Lack of information about available services
• Lack of funding
• Perception of role and responsibilities (some GP's don't see it as their responsibility as it is non-medical)
• Perception of negative political implications (some GP's felt that it places unfair burden on charities and community groups to support vulnerable people)

Key benefits of social prescribing:

• Freeing up GP and hospital resources (shown to have the potential to cut GP consultation rates by 28% and A&E attendance by 24%)
• Increases the feeling of control and self-confidence in participants
• Reduces social isolation
• Has a positive impact on health-related behaviours, including weight loss, healthier eating and increased physical activity.
• Improved management of long-term conditions
• Improved mental health
• Greater resilience and more effective problem-solving strategies

Current situation in England

Professor Drinkwater chairs Ways to Wellness, a charitable foundation set up to deliver social prescribing at scale in Newcastle upon Tyne.

He says that the picture of social prescribing in England is “a very mixed bag at the moment”, adding that there have been lots of pilots which often fizzle out and miss the chance to have a lasting impact.

“We need to stop talking about pilots – because they get dropped. We need to have prototypes instead, which get developed.”

Red Cross - ISOLATION AND LONELINESS An overview of the literature

GP takeup and experiences of social prescribing

The impact of social prescribing

The big idea

Small-Wins is a text-message based service that facilitates social engagement. The user journey is as follows:

Registration

1. User registers or gets registered for service (by GP, Council worker, etc.)
2. Language? English / Urdu / etc.
3. "How many times a week do you engage with your community?" Never (1) -> Daily (10)
4. "In 3 months how frequently do you wish you could engage with your community?" Never (1) -> Daily (10)
5. "What are your hobbies?" None / Knitting / Listening to music

Activity

1. SMS: "There are some things going on today - what do you want to attend: (1) coffee shop with a few others. (2) pub with a few others. (3) knitting group [scraped from meetup.com]. (4) Not today"
2. Responds with "3"
3. SMS: "Okay great, the group is meeting at costa coffee on commercial road at 4pm."

After activity

1. SMS: "Did you enjoy the coffee meetup?"
2. SMS: "Any chance you remember the names of the people you met? It helps us check who attended."
3. SMS: "Rate the location (1) Terrible -> (10) Great "

Repeat

Activities repeat at regular intervals (every few days).

Gotchas

1. What if there are no meetups?

We can facilitate meetings using other members of the app in the local area. If this is done, we will ensure that a few members of local volunteer groups are present to smooth social interactions.

2. Why hasn't this been done already
3. What if no one goes to an event
4. What if people only go to one event and don't go to any others.

Opportunities

1. Work across languages - defeats isolation brought about by being alone in a group. Meetup with others in the area that speak the same language. Auto-translate.
2. Work with loc
3. Figure out interests based on social media information