Social Prescribing (SP) is a way of linking patients in primary care with sources of support to improve their health and wellbeing within their community. For example, if a health care worker identifies loneliness or stress or weight gain in a patient, they can connect him/her to other sources of support. They may make the referral directly to groups/activities in their community (e. g. counselling, outdoor activities, creative groups, physical activities or support groups) or they may refer to a ‘co-ordinator’ / link worker to make the referral.
SP programmes are being widely promoted in the UK and are now being increasingly adopted all over Europe but, nevertheless, formats differ, since Social Prescribing is highly dependent on the context, for example the health care system and facilities in the country/region.
Consequently there is confusion about what constitutes social prescribing and, moreover, SP is sometimes not immediately understood by health care professionals themselves.Therefore, this proposed study aims to map across Europe established SP programmes and how they are organised.  This will assist in establishing a clear definition of “social prescribing” for Europe and greater understanding within communities. The questionnaire will take you less than 10 minutes to complete. Thank you very much in advance for your cooperation.
The Social Prescribing and Community Orientation Working Group