Thriving Communities: Evaluation of the Thriving Communities Fund, August 2022

Wavehill have published their evaluation of the Thriving Communities fund today.

You can access the full report on the National Academy for Social Prescribing website.

Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the National Academy for Social Prescribing, said: “As a practicing GP, I know the crucial role social prescribing can play, not just for those people who are directly helped but for healthcare professionals too.

“Thanks to the Fund, many local organisations are now working together more effectively, are better connected to the health system and have engaged successfully with Social Prescribing Link Workers. In order to allow this good work to continue, NASP is working across the public and private sector to help establish sustainable investment based on the success of the Thriving Communities Fund model, to allow social prescribing to reach the people most in need of the support and connection it provides.”

Darren Henley, Chief Executive, Arts Council England said: “The Thriving Communities Fund is clearly making a positive difference to participants’ mental and physical health. This evaluation shows how social prescribing, working in harmony with medical healthcare, can help people to lead happier and healthier lives by enabling valuable connections with artists, arts organisations, museums and libraries in their local communities”.

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England said: “We are proud to have contributed to the success of the Thriving Communities Fund and the many projects it supports. It reveals the potential of local heritage projects, as part of a wide-ranging programme of wellbeing activity, to have a real impact on people’s lives while also helping to care for our historic environment”.

Amanda Craig, Director People and Nature at Natural England said: The Thriving Communities Fund’s impressive partnership model brings together activity providers, community groups, local authorities, green space providers and landowners to break down barriers to nature.  Wavehill’s evaluation, published today, highlights the valuable benefits of social prescribing for peoples’ mental health and wellbeing and shows how important our local natural places are to the health and prosperity of our communities.”

Executive summary

The Thriving Communities Fund was launched in 2020 to support local voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise projects that bring together place-based partnerships to improve and increase the range and reach of available social prescribing community activities. An investment of £1.8 million, made possible by the National Academy of Social Prescribing (NASP), Arts Council England and partners, has provided support to 37 projects over an initial 12-month period. Social prescribing in England Social prescribing connects people via different pathways, including link workers or community-based referrals, to activities, groups and services in their community and beyond to meet practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing. This includes nature-based activities, physical activity, arts and culture, and advice and support services. With up to one in five GP appointment about wider social determinants of health rather than medical issues, social prescribing can play an important role in integrated care, supporting people with a range of health needs and reducing overprescribing.

There are 11 core recommendations from the report as follows:

1. Co-design and co-production guidance should be produced for organisations working within social prescribing systems. This will ensure that the local offer is shaped by the needs of local communities.

2. Examples of effective practice in engaging and supporting communities using online activities should be collated. This should cover guidance and ideas for overcoming digital access issues.

3. Opportunities for greater coordination of local social prescribing offers should be progressed to avoid duplication of effort and help communities navigate activities to support their health and wellbeing.

4. The feasibility of establishing an accreditation or quality mark should be explored to enable link workers and communities to identify and refer into quality assured activities.

5. Social prescribing systems should consider broader infrastructure factors when developing their social prescribing approach such as transport links and community assets. This is particularly important in left behind neighbourhoods with a local infrastructure deficit and where volunteering levels are low.

6. Feedback from partners suggests an absence of wider coordination around local evaluation design. Guidance should be produced to aid organisations in measuring outcomes and impacts for patients, participants, communities and the health and care system.

7. Social prescribing systems and activities should be encouraged to capture consistent profile data to enable aggregation at an ICS and national level. This will aid assessment of which communities are supported through social prescribing and which are underrepresented.

8. National partners should consider providing guidance on CRM platforms and design considerations for local social prescribing systems where this is yet to be put in place. Evaluation of the Thriving Communities Fund Final Report vii

9. While NHS England is working with partners to create a Social Prescribing Maturity Framework and workforce plan, consideration should be given to creating a broader plan to ensure sustainable community provision by activity providers.

10. Volunteers play an important role in social prescribing systems. Social prescribing infrastructure should explore opportunities to improve the coordination and management of volunteers. This could include sharing of volunteer resource and skills to support activity providers and the participants they are engaging.

11. The programme has reinforced the value of facilitating networking between VCFSE organisations coordinating and delivering activities as part of their local social prescribing offer. Continued networking opportunities should be hosted to enable learning and the sharing of practice

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