Hello and welcome to the September issue of Prescribing Practice. You may have read this month about the launch of a new initiative being trialed, whereby prescribers will be able to socially prescribe walking, wheeling and cycling. This will begin on a trial basis across 11 different areas including Cornwall, Suffolk and Nottingham. You can find the full list and all the trials details on the gov.uk (2022a) website.
This introduction comes as healthcare professionals across the country continue to seek to improve their patient's mental and physical health. This multi-year funding of the 11 local authority areas in England have been given £12.7 million toward the project. The funding will be put towards several pilot projects at each location, including adult cycle training, free bike loans and walking groups.
This welcome introduction offers prescribers the opportunity to employ social prescribing methods as an alternative to or alongside the more traditional prescribing needs of the patient. According to the All Our Health guide (gov.uk, 2022b), one in three (34%) men and one in two (42%) women are not active enough for good health. As someone who once neglected his physical health in the past, the benefits such schemes could have on both mental and physical health offer exciting opportunities, and if successful, could continue to grow and potentially have a significant effect on treatment approaches.
Various local areas already have services in place that can benefit their communities. Here in London, we have several cycle hire services that can be accessed throughout the city, alongside some parks with various exercise equipment that can benefit the community. However, the benefit of this new scheme is the opportunity to offer options such as those mentioned for free, allowing those on a lower income, who may not have been able to access such services before to use them.
A question that arises for me, and I'm sure for many of you, is how do we monitor the patient's use of such services? Much like the compliance of medication taking, there is going to have to be a strong reliance on the patient following through on such services. For mental health, prescribing these activities alongside options such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) may be vital to encourage patients to make use of, and keep using, such services. For exercise for physical wellbeing, could the use of a phone application to monitor use be incorporated? Or are we again relying on the patient's desire to get healthy to aid these new prescribing services? Much like with all of the services you offer, a true partnership between healthcare professional and patient remains key to the success of any scheme.
As ever, the journal would love to hear your thoughts on this new scheme and perhaps any services that you already offer. Get in touch with us at prescribingpractice@markallengroup.com or via Twitter @PrescribingPrac.