Social prescribing

Social Prescribing is free service helping residents access non-medical help right in here in the community. Residents who have unmet social needs can now be referred to Social Prescribing Link Worker.

Runnymede's Social Prescribing service enables people to better access non-medical help in their local community. 

Residents who have unmet social, emotional and practical needs can now be referred to Social Prescribing Link Worker who will listen to their requirements and expertly guide them to variety of suitable services in the borough.

Information and signposting not only helps residents take control of their specific situation but also improves the usage of local community services that can support health and wellbeing.

Who is this service suitable for?

• Adults over 18 years of age who are not already attending Locality Hub (for frail people over 65 years old)

Link Workers

Link workers can help residents to access all of the following

• specialists in Benefits/Budgeting advice

• counselling services and other support groups for emotional needs (bereavement, low level mental health)

• Runnymede Borough Council Housing Team for tailored housing advice

• local opportunities for social interaction (lifelong learning, Social Centres, activity groups)

• exercise referral schemes (exercise programmes at local leisure centres)

• practical help (cooking, transport, shopping)

• information how to best remain independent at home at (alarms & telecare devices, Meals at Home, Homelink Handy person Service)

• support around disability/impairment and specialist support groups

How do I access the Social Prescribing service?

Patients can only access the service via health care or social care professional, who will refer them, for example, GP practice or social worker.

Anyone referred to Link Worker will be contacted to arrange face to face appointment. Appointments will take place in confidential setting or in GP practice. Home appointments will also be offered where this is required.

Social Prescribing is delivered by Runnymede Borough Council and working in partnership with local Primary Care Networks.

Sharing of information

With consent, an individual's contact details will be shared with other agencies for the purpose of supplying specific services requested.

Looking after your data

In order to provide the Social Prescribing service we will collect and process personal data and special category data, such as health and disability data relating to you.

We will need to process your personal data as part of the monitoring of performance in providing the Social Prescribing service. We also need to process your data to enable referrals or requests for services or support from other organisations to be provided. This will be agreed with you in advance and is based on your consent.

Data will only be processed by members of staff that are required to access this information in order to deliver the service. For further information on how data will be processed view our privacy statement