Social prescribing is an approach that aims to improve health and well-being. It connects individuals to non-clinical services and supports that address social needs, such as those related to loneliness, housing instability and mental health. At the person level, social prescribing can give individuals the knowledge, skills, motivation and confidence to manage their own health and well-being. At the society level, it can facilitate greater collaboration across health, social, and community sectors to promote integrated care and move beyond the traditional biomedical model of health. While the term social prescribing was first popularised in the UK, this practice has become more prevalent and widely publicised internationally over the last decade. This paper aims to illuminate the ways social prescribing has been conceptualised and implemented across 17 countries in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. We draw from the ‘Beyond the Building Blocks’ framework to describe the essential inputs for adopting social prescribing into policy and practice, related to service delivery; social determinants and household production of health; workforce; leadership and governance; financing, community organisations and societal partnerships; health technology; and information, learning and accountability. Cross-cutting lessons can inform country and regional efforts to tailor social prescribing models to best support local needs.

Background: Social Prescribing (SP) is an intervention to link users of the primary healthcare services to non-clinical organizations based on the community to tackle social determinants of health. Despite the potential benefits of SP, the effectiveness of this complex intervention remains uncertain. This paper presents the study protocol of the evaluation of the first SP project in Portugal. Methods:A mixed-methods study will be conducted to evaluate the SP project. For the quantitative component, a longitudinal, prospective study with a pre-post design will be performed. Data on patients referred to SP will be collected in four different points in time throughout the intervention, using questionnaires on patients' health status and sociodemographic characteristics, and scales on patients' well-being, quality of life and activation. The secondary data will be collected using patients' medical records and SP's forms about the referral and social responses elaborated within the intervention. Semi-structured interviews with patients and focus groups with stakeholders will be conducted to assess experiences of participation and improvement suggestions on SP. Conclusion:Comprehensive and complementary evidence will provide insights and learning for the implementation of future SP interventions. This can contribute to inform policy and practice, and to increase investment in social prescribing interventions.

Social prescribing (SP) is an innovative approach to tackle social determinants of health. It enables general practitioners (GPs) to address non-medical causes of ill-health by linking primary care patients with non-medical community sources of support. Despite convincing results from punctual evaluations, comprehensive evaluation of SP is needed to provide guidance on what works and evidence on its impact. A SP pilot-project started in 2018 in a primary care service in Lisbon. Its implementation process and outcomes are being evaluated through a longitudinal mixed-method evaluation study assessing patients’ wellbeing, quality of life, anxiety and depression in key stages of the intervention and stakeholders’ perspectives on facilitators/barriers to the intervention implementation. GPs refer patients to a social worker of the service, who defines with the patient the individual intervention plan using community resources. Initially, GPs and social workers were trained on SP, a network of community partners was built, SP information was distributed to patients, a referral online platform was created and a baseline study is being conducted. In the 1st semester, 130 patients were referred: 39.2% were ≥65 years old, 70.8% were female, 45.4% had foreign nationality. Over two thirds were referred for multiple reasons mostly social isolation, immigration/social integration, mental health, sedentary lifestyle, access to social benefits and employment/skills training. The project has enabling to support patients with multiple complex psychosocial needs. Regular meetings between GPs and partners have improving collaboration and patients’ supervision. The participatory approach and training emerged as facilitators of the intervention. Yet, the increased burden on social workers due to growing referral profile and some stakeholders’ scepticism toward SP need to be addressed. The triangulation of sources, methods and data provide evidence on the intervention impact and scalability. Key messages The social prescribing intervention has been effective in tackling multiple social determinants of health. Intervention evaluation is being key to identify facilitators and opportunities for scale up.