Social prescribing, and its role in strengthening community health and wellbeing

Wavehill was commissioned by the National Academy for Social Prescribing, Arts Council England and national partners to evaluate the Thriving Communities Fund, a £1.8 million programme supporting community-led social prescribing projects across England.

The programme brought together organisations from the arts, culture, heritage, nature, sport and voluntary sectors to improve wellbeing, strengthen community connections and support people most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We delivered an independent programme-level evaluation, bringing together monitoring data, participant information, partnership surveys, project consultations and local evaluation evidence. The work assessed delivery across 36 funded projects, drawing on evidence from 121 partner responses representing 114 organisations and participant data covering more than 5,000 people.

Impact

The programme supported around 11,000 participants through a diverse range of community-based activities delivered by 36 projects, helping people connect with creative, physical, nature-based and wellbeing opportunities.
Projects delivered 3,722 sessions, with 82% of referred participants attending activities despite the challenges created by the pandemic.
Around 34% of participants were from Black and minority ethnic communities, 45% reported a long-term health condition or disability, and 39% lived in some of England’s most deprived communities, demonstrating the programme’s reach into populations experiencing health inequalities.
The programme strengthened local social prescribing systems by connecting health services, community organisations and activity providers. Projects worked with an average of 13 social prescribing link workers, helped improve local referral pathways and leveraged almost £1 million of additional funding and in-kind support.

The evaluation provided national partners with evidence on how community-led social prescribing can improve wellbeing, strengthen local partnerships and support more integrated approaches to health and community support, helping to inform future investment and programme development.

The report is available to read here.