Responding to today’s launch of the National Academy for Social Prescribing, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, said:
“This is a positive step which will help local leaders to deliver social prescribing.
“Councils and the voluntary sector are uniquely placed to build on community strengths, ensuring that preventative approaches are embedded in the services they provide.
“The greatest impact for our communities can be achieved through locally-led targeted interventions and local facilities – museums, libraries, leisure centres and parks – which have a major role to play in helping their communities become creative and physically active.
“However, we are concerned that there is no funding model to support the activities that people are referred to. The current model is comparable to sending people to pharmacists, but not funding the medication.
“It is therefore vital that the Government invests in a ‘prevention transformation’ fund to support the upgrading of prevention and population health services in local authorities.”
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